4 THE OMAIIA DAILY BEE: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBEIt 18, 1905. The Omaha Daily Nee. E. ROSEWATKR, EDITOR. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNINQ. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. Dally Ree (without Sunday), nm year...$4)0 Dully Ree anil Bunrlny. ono veer S 00 Illustrated lire, one year 2. SO Sunday Ber, one year i 50 Saturday Hee. o.ie yenr l.&u DELIVERED BY CARRIER. Tally Bee (without Sunday), per week....12i Dally Bee (Including H inday), per week. .lie. Evening R-c (without Sunday). per week, fic Evening Hee iwlth Sunday), per week. ...10c Sunday Hen, per copy 5c Address complalnta of Irregularities In de llveiy to City Circulation Department. OFFICES. Omaha The Bee Building. South Omaha City Hall Building. Council Bluffs 10 Pearl Street. Chicago i,m Unity Building. New Vork-lftO Home Life Ins. Rulldlng. Washington 0tl Fourteenth Street. CORRESPONDENCE. Communications relating to news and ed itorial matter should be addressed: Omaha Bee, Editorial Department. REMITTANCES. Remit by drtft express or postal order, payable to The Bee Publishing Company. Only 2-eent stamps received In payment of rnall accounts, personal checks, except on Omaha or eastern exchanges. not accepted, THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY. STATEMENT Or CIRCULATION. State of Nebraska, Douglas County, as: C. C. Rosewnter, secretary of The Bee Publishing Company, being dulv aworn, says that the actual number of full and complets copies of Tne Daily, Morning. Evening and Sunday Pen printed during the momn or pepteinoer. 18I5, was as follows 1 80.4OO lg 31,700 2 xi.nno 17 2i,oio sot, boo ig ao.Too no.arto 19 so.roo 6 .T70 20 JW.tlO 80,H20 21 SO.RZO 7 SO 730 12 '.. SO.WM) t si.otto 23 a i.i) 20 81.NOO 24., 8O.0S0 10 Stl.UOO 28 81,130 11 80.8OO 26 ai.oso I! - 80.7IW 27 30.IM)0 U 80,710 2S 30.770 14. ........,' SOJttia 29 3(,70 IE........... 31.WSO 20... Sl.HftW Total Iss unsold copies .0241,320 . 10.102 Net total sales ...Dlfl.IfJS Dally averago ;io,&44 C. C. ROSEWATER. Sec y. Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before ma this 30 day of September, 1906. (Seal) M. B. II UNGATE, Notary Public. WHK1 OIT Or TOWH. Subscribers leaving, tha city Ifm porarlly should have Tha Bee mailed to them. It la better than a dally letter (rout home. Ad dress will be changed as often as requested. The New York Hull of Fame has the merit of huvlug saved some names from oblivion. Registration uay uexi luursday. If you have not already registered put a chalk mark ou the wall. French warsum ou me coast of Ven ezuela would indicate a belief in Paris that the big stick is busy elsewhere. Andrew Curucgie taiks as strongly in favor of peace as though ho had never reaped a cent of profit from armor plate contractu. . After his uscapauo at 1101I0 Lieuten ant Burbank was more fortunate than Major ynggert lu. that his divorce ault escaped trial in Ohio. Kansas city bus the uuvantage of pulling off its horse show immediately after Omaha's with the styles that make a hit already set for It The canUiuucy of. Prince Charles of Denmark for the throne of Norway hows that the Banish royal employ ment agency has not gone out of bus! neus. Morocco will probably imd that the International conference comes too late to do any 'good unless those captive British officers are returned in short order. The proUt to lie realized ly Japan from tho tobucco monopoly is figured at $18,000,000 for the year. An anti-cigar ette crusade in Japan would doubtless bo considered treason. By, his answers to tho Investigation committee iTesldeut McCurdy seems to make out that part of his $150,000 sal ury Is paid for not knowing certain facts at the proper time. A $7,UN Loud ha bc-cu prescribed for an outlaw charged with stealing $20,000. It Is needless to say that this distorted perspective of crime comes from County Judge Ylusonhaler's court. With cabinet officers empowered to re- move civil service employes for person ally known cause, several voluntary res ignations may bo expected from under lings who see the handwriting ou the walL Now that the engineers nave returned from the caual toue ambitious corre DlHUidcnts can legiu to tell of the dif ferences between the members without wuttlnff to learu what plan any member favors. What ha iKH-oiue of Cuuicrs, the ever wakeful watchdog, while all this jug gling of municipal funds is being plunned to piece out an exhaust ed po lice fund lu direct violation of the char ter provisions? Has the watchdog been put -to sleep? Vs new syndicate i trying to reor ganise iuul regenerate the stock yards a Milwaukee, so as to put the Cream City on the map strain as a live stock market. Milwaukee Is 111 tlie wrong corner -of the corn belt ever to catch up with the live stock business at Umuha Trust thf (Ii'iihhtum tor uudlng a way to crawl under the tent without an ad mission fee. t'ouuty Clerk Prexcl shut the oclalItU out on the officUtl ballot because they reused to pay up, but he now -let a democratic nominee for county commissioner come lu without putting up a cent The local twyainte organ has discov ered that thore Is a lively municipal campaign on In New York City, and though it U not sure whether democrats should Hue up behind Hearst or behind McClellan. it is ready to throw up Its hat ever a great democratic victory, no matter which wins. the rnEswKnrs trip sovtu- T(Hlny President Itoosevolt will start on hi southern trip, wMcb will occupy the remainder of the present month. He Is assured of n most cordial welcome by the southern people, who have as great an admiration of Mr. Roosevelt's char actor And as high su appreciation of what he linn accomplished In statesman ship and diplomacy as the people of any oiher section. The president Is recog iilzod In Die south, an elsewhere, as a man of national sentiment and sympa thies, desiring to promote the Interests and welfare of the entire country, proud of the position of the United States among the world powers and seeking In all just and proper ways to maintain that standing. The southern people, In common with a great majority of their countrymen, like the courage and firm ness with which Mr. Koosevelt adheres to the principles and policies which he believes to" be right and essential to the public welfare. It is true there are some In that section who have shown displeasure with his attitude toward the colored citizens, so far as concerns their political rights, but there Is reason to think that this feeling Is by no means general. The president should find much enjoy ment from his southern trip. All the cities he Is to visit have made prepara tions to properly receive and entertain him. As the chief executive of the na tion he will be shown every courtesy and consideration by state and munici pal official and the great service he has performed In the cause of International peace will undoubtedly receive due rec- OKnltlon. It Is a good thing for the pres ident to go among the people and talk o them to learn their sentiment and feeling and to tell them of the aims and purposes of those In authority. The ef fect Is enlightening to both, the people are drawn closer to the government and the tendency Is to keep active the spirit of loyalty and patriotism. Everybody will earnestly wish that President Roosevelt may find unalloyed pleasure in his trip and return to the national capital with renewed vigor for the ar duous work which the meeting of con gress will impose on him. TRANCE THREATENS VESEZVtLA French warships, are on the way to the West Indies and although a Paris dispatch says it is not desired there to have the assembling of the vessels, which will be at the Island of Martin ique, taken as a menace, there can be no doubt that it Is a threat to Venezuela. It announces plainly to the southern re public that unless France receives the satisfaction demanded for the offense against her diplomatic representative co ercive measures will be taken, probably a blockade of the ports of Venezuela. The French government doubtless feels that it has been sufficiently patient in this matter and that the time has come to show Castro that further trifling will not be tolerated. The Venezuelan presi dent has little regard for international obligations. He seems to court trouble and he has kept the country in contro versy with foreign nations ever since he violently seized executive authority. There is no question that he has given France gore offense, but he has obsti nately refused to make any amend. He may not do so even when France shall have assembled her warships near Ven ezuelan waters. Will this prove to be another case for the application of the Monroe doctrine? Venezuela is not feeling altogether friendly toward this country and per haps would not ask it to intervene in the trouble with France, but if such a request should be made our government would very likely decline to interfere, There can be no doubt that France, if compelled to employ her warships to bring Castro to terms, will respect the spirit of the Monroe doctrine. She will not attempt to take any Venezuelan ter ritory. A peaceful blockade would not be In violation of the doctrine and doubt less that is as far as France would go. Certainly she will avoid anything that might bring on an issue with the United States and disturb the extremely cordial relations between the two countries. Venezuela needs a lesson in interna tional decency. Castro, whose will ap pears to be law in the republic, needs to be taught that he cannot ruthlessly dis regard obligations universally recognized and escape merited consequences. If he forces France into administering such a lesson no obstruction should- be placed In the way of her dolns so. LASD FRAUD PROSECCT10XS- The zeal with which the federal au thorities are carrying on the land fraud prosecutions cannot l e too warmly com mended. A few days ago the United States court at Portland sentenced three persons, one of them Congressman Wil liamson, to fine and Imprisonment and there Is every reason to expect that an other Oregon congressman, Hermann, will be convicted and perha'ps subjected to a heavier punishment, as his case is in some respects the most aggravated of them all. Not ouly Is be charged with making Improper use of the office of federal commissioner of the general land office, but when the secretury of the In terior allowed him to remain for a time it Is charged that he destroyed letter press copybooks, alleged to have con tained proof of his land transactions. He is under indictment in Washington ou the charge of destroying government records, as well as in Oregon for com plicity with the land fraud there. It is stated that Interior and Department Of Justice officials have from the beginning In-eu more confident of the conviction of Hermann, in the lund fraud prosecution, than of either Senator Mitchell or Rep resentatlve Williamson. The course pursued . in Oregon has Ix-en followed In the state of Washing ton, where six cases have Just been filed in the federal court at Taconia to re cover to the government title to lands In Washington, Oregon and California, out of which the government U aliefciJ baTe been defrauded. Bribery, perjury. forgery, etc., are charged and a numlor of prominent persons, among them Sen ator C. W. Clark, are Implicated. The federal authorities believe that the evi dence In these cases Is quite as strong as that upon which the convictions in Oregon were obtained and It Is not doubted that Indictments will be seenred In all the cases. It Is needless to say that the Interior department and de partment of Justice are working In com plete harmony. That whoever Is found to have had any connection with the land frauds, whatever bis position, will be prosecuted and if convicted will be punished, the record in Oregon glve.s ample assurance. The position of the president in regard to this Is well known and the attorney general and the secre tary of the interior are in full accord with it The persons who have obtained lands from the government by fraud de serve an even severer punishment than the law provides. The sentences of the men convicted do not quite fit the crime. A S TRA I T-JACK E t CHAR 1ER. When the charter bill was still under discussion last winter, The Bee took exception to the proposed section mak ing the sinking fund the residuary lega tee of all the odds and ends of municipal revenue and all the surpluses of other funds formerly carried over from year to year. It called attention to two se rious defects of the plan: First, that it would make the charter too rigid a strait-Jacket for emergencies, such as we have Just been compelled to meet in the exhaustion of the police and fire funds, and second, that it would incite every branch of the municipal govern ment to spend every cent at Its disposal rather than show a surplus at the end of the year to be forfeited to the sink ing fund. Examination of the balance sheet dis closes that this is precisely what has happened and that when the books are closed with the expiration of the fiscal year not only will there be no balance In any of the current funds, but nearly every one of them will have obligations outstanding that will become a charge upon the proceeds of the next year's levy. With such a system In operation It Is difficult to see how expenses can be materially cut down or tax levies ap preciably reduced. Add to this a per sistent policy of evadlug the charter limitations by drawing on other funds whenever the city authorities find them selves in a tight place and the safe guards of the new charter against ex travagance and overlaps fall down al most completely. When the new charter comes to be revised, as has been the invariable his tory of all our charters, the unsatisfac tory experience with these strait Jacket clauses should not bo overlooked and such modifications adopted as will insure a reasonable measure of elastic ity for the future Taxpaylng citizens of l'ouglas county will note that nearly $7,500 has been placed to their credit in twenty-one mouths by County Treasurer Fink as interest earned on current deposits of county funds, while 'under his demo cratic predecessor the interest collec tions for four years amounted to less than $1,750. As a matter of fact the taxpayers of Douglas county have yet to discover Just who pocketed the in terest money earned by the county de posits while they were bandied by County Treasurer Fink's democratic predecessor. President McCurdy 01 the Mutual Life says that he believes the testimony of officials before the investigating com mittee should be taken in private and held confidential by the committee. Under these circumstances members of the committee might find more profit if less fame than they are now receiving. Star chamlr transactions are the par ents of graft. Colleges can be built m a day, but it takes time to create traditions, and drive the roots of the tree deep into the ground. Bellevue college's twenty-five years testify not to rapidly accumulated endowments, but to a quarter of a cen tury of usefulness In a limited sphere with steadily widening influence for good. The register of deeds' law passed by the last legislature as part of the bien nial elections legislation has finally gone up to the supreme court, it is only a question of time when every bill of that series will have to have to have the Judicial stamp on It to tell whether it Is good or no good. Can't ASord to Lose Him. Brooklyn Eagle. Pat Crowe has stolen and blackmailed enough to hire the best legal talent, but we have an Idea that they are so fond of him la Nebraska that they will keep htm there for many years and will not charge hlin a cent fur his keep, either. Rabbin OS HaKwed Kdgem. Boston Transcript. A visitor returned from the Philippines observes that most of the mlstakea which have been made are due to the Anglo-Saxon falling of thinking our way the only way. Wo are really lucky, then, to have got be yond that other racial failing of not think ing at all. Where Iteform Shies. Philadelphia Inquirer. Congressman Landla of Indiana, proposes an Investigation of the government printing office, with a view to stopping the printing and distribution of "worthless publi cations;" but as next year will be devoted to congressional campaigns, when many tons of "parts of congressional record" will be sent out, the odds are against the suc cess of the scheme. Yoaasr Men for Battle. Chicago Tribune. Admiral Dewey says that to have a navy which shall be efficient In tha stress of war, there must be younger men to direct the fighting aboard the ships than those now in command. It is his opinion that the officers above the rank of lieutenant are too old for the grades they occupy. The admiral U getting to be an old man and can make re marks of this kind with a better grace than out vf the Juuiuis. DIHKCTORS Ml ST H1RKCT. Wore ArtlTe Men, Fewer Uaaimles, . Seeded on Boards. Philadelphia Ledger. The address of the comptroller of the currency before the American Bankers' a aorlatlon fives his authoritative support of the aacertlon thr.t the national banks are exposed to the greatest danger from the Inside, and that no system of governmental Inspection or examination can prevent the occasional looting of a bank by Its trusted officers. In the course of his remarks Mr. Rldgelry vindicated the efficiency of his corps of examiners, who, he says, can do little until after the discovery has been made that the banking laws have been violated and some harm has been done to stockholders or depositors, or both. "A good bank examiner does his whole duty In the discovery of such a case. It Is not reasonable to ask him to prevent It." The safety of our financial Institutions and tho proper execution of all fiduciary trusts lies. In the last analysis, in the In tegrity and financial skill of those who have oversight "on the Inside." Business is conducted upon the theory that men are honest, and, compared with tho trusts which are honestly and sbly executed, the lapses are few, and the sums lost Infinitesi mal when measured by the enormous sums which are falthfuly administered by per sons who would remain Inflexlb'v faithful and honest If there were no statutes pun ishing those who criminally betray trusts. No law can hold all trustees to their duty. There Is no substitute for plain, old-fashioned honesty on the part of those who have charge of the funds In the banks or otherwise. This la a truism, and Its truth Is illustrated by many examples drawn from the experience of the comptroller, the official who watches and guards to the ex tent of his powers the vast national bank ing system. Mr. Rldgely says that there has been a determined effort to secure a more thor ough co-operation between bank directors and the official supervising authority. He sugogsts certain Improvements In the sys tem of supervision. He has Imposed greater responsibility on the directors by placing them in direct communication with the comptroller's office. Until recently criti cism from that office of the conduct of a bank was addressed to the president, and was, as a rule, answered by the president or the cashier. This was a fatal course In some Instances. Directors remained igno rant of irregularities, for a delinquent bank president or cashier would not scruple to withhold from the directorate knowledge of Irregularities for which he was respon sible. "It was a common complaint of di rectors that they had not been notified of things going on In the bank about which the officers had been written repeatedly." Now the directors are communicated with personally by the comptroller. The new plan has been In operation a short time, but Its good results are apparent In the greater attention of directors to the details of bank management TIIE MICROBE OF GRAFT. Thrives Beat In Corporations Where the Rakeoff Is Rich. Wall Street Journal. The microbe of graft thrives especially in corporations, public and business. A few are, Indeed, Immune against it, but these are rare exceptions. Nearly all are ex ceedingly susceptible to the growth of the microbe, and once let It obtain a secure lodgment In the body of the corporation, a loathsome and often deadly disease surely follows. The best cure la exposure to the light. There is no certain way, however, of preventing the disease, though various methods of quarantine have been estab lished against It, . The microbe r thrives In any kind of a corporation, butyls' most prolific in those which represent' a vast financial power lodged in the hands of a few Individuals who feel no duo sense of obligation to anyDociy. The corporation that is con trolled by a man who regards it as "my" corporation, and Its business as "privity" business, affords most fertile ground for the spread of graft. When a financier handling Immense sums of other people's money gets to the point of regarding his trusteeship as a "private" business it is not long before he begins to think that their money is "my" money and then uses It In all sorts of scandalous ways for his personal profit. When "a captain of industry" gets to the point of regarding the great railroad or public utility as a "private business" it does not take long for him to persuade himself that anything he may do is right, and that the public, or the government representing the public, has no right to "Interfere in his affairs." Thus Is devel oped a condition of egotism that approaches the vanity of czars and kings, and of ir responsible power that leads naturally to control of corporate property and business for personal profit regardless of the inter ests and the rights of others. Great busi ness carried on by corporations whose powers are derived from the public cannot be private In any strict sense, nor can it be "my" business. It represents the In vestments of hundreds, and perhaps tens of thousands; Its operations affects the interests. It may be, of millions, and Its profits, especially If it be a public service corporation, are derived from franchises bestowed by legislatures and municipalities, or If a bank or Insurance company, by virtue of certain privileges bestowed by law. Such a business is essentially public and rightly subject to public supervision and publicity, and when so conducted the microbe of graft can make slow progress. It thrives best and most rapidly develops the cancer of corruption in those corpora tions which are subject to one-man rule and controlled on the principle that they are private enterprises carried on for pri vate gain and in which the public has no concern or rights. COST OF LIVING. Some Basis for Secretary Wilson's Hope of Relief. Milwaukee Sentinel. Good old Secretary Wilson of the De partment of Agriculture steps blithely to the front to cheer us all up with a predic tion of a murked decrease in the cost of liv ing In the near future. That Is Important, If true, and here is about the way the sec retary figures It out. Grain, especially corn, la the elementary form of nearly all our staple food commodities meat, dairy products, poultry, breadstuffs, of course. and dosens of other articles of household consumption. In the great granary of the country, the middle west, there is a splen did all-round yield of grain, which means an abundance, and hence a reduced cost of the multiform articles of food into which grain is directly or indirectly transmitted Especially the enormous crop of corn, used to feed and fatten cattle and poultry, and the basic principle not only of meat but of eggs and dairy products, should exercise a cheapening effect on food necessaries of life all along the line, Corn is king in this direction and scarce and dear corn means scarcity and dearnesa of about everything else. Bo with a bumper corn crop we are fairly Justified in expect ing that agreeable decrease In the cost of living which Secretary Wilson confi dently predicts. The secretary's deductions are fair and philosophical; he la presumably mighty careful this time about the correct ness of tils crop statistics, and It is hoped the pesky trusts will not manage through some hocus pocus to get between the people and the bounty of nature Indicated by the figures of the Department of Agriculture. With an abundance of the natural elements of all the food staples why shuuid, scarcity prUes prevail! Rot Ml ADOVT SEW YORK. Ripples on the Current of 1,1 fe In the Metropolis. Eastern people are steadily coming to a realization of the Immense development of the west and the greatly Increased value of western land and products. Of alt localities New York should be thor oughly acquainted with this fact, for tho west gives the greatest momentum to the surging currents of Its life. Yet there seems to be In some quarters, regarded as Intelligent and progressive, a total lack of Information on this point, judging by the surprise and favorable comment provoked by the circulation of a pamphlet dealing with western progress. The author Is II. W. Jones, an expert on crops. Mr. Jones shows that land values In seven repre sentative western states has Increased since 1830 nearly 5,000,000,000. He also says the corn crop will exceed 2.621, fKT.OnO bushels, and that the Pnlted States never enjoyed crop conditions as favorable as those of this year. This Is not news to the west, but It Is worth repeating as an Illustration of the impressive figures the west sends down the line to arouse the somnolent east. "All sections of the country," says Mr. Jones, "have been favored with a har vest. No crop Is a failure over any large area. Wheat, corn, oats, cotton, hay po tatoes, dairy products all are good on the whole and well distributed over the states. The fodder crops are heavy, and the farmer will have a supply ample to Insure full cattle feeding. "The western railroads are already taxed to their capacity. The roads are not able to move promptly the tonnage offering. Fully one-fifth of the northwest grain elevator capacity is already filled by early marketings, and wheat deliveries by farmers as such points are being re fused for the present." Mr. Jones also declares that twenty years ago It coat about 2 cents to move a ton of freight one mile. Now It costs about of a mill. "It Is an area of prosperity for the farmer, and. In turn, for the country. Money la abundant throughout the west. Western Jobbers report good fall demand for all lines, with a tendency to purchase other than staples, which is Indicative of an ability among the people to buy the smaller luxuries that contribute to farm comfort. 'The telephone and the dally paper are going Into the homes of the people in the far west, and the producer is posting him self on markets as never before." These facts will hold the east for awhile. Two of the big hotels In New York per mit their patrons to breathe filtered air. and It Is surprising to note how many peo ple go In for this sort of thing. They want to feel that they are getting a superior quality of air. Theaters are talking about Installing filtering plants. "Aside from the general Interest attaching to the mere fact that a barrel of dust la filtered out of the air supply of one public house every day," said the health commissioner, "the example Is an admirable one for the theaters and other places of congregation. There Is no question that the dust of cities is very largely responsible for the spread of dis ease. My experiments here, coupled with my Investigations elsewhere, are such as might astonish laymen. Comparatively few persons realise that the lungs of a city dweller, of one who has lived In New York, as an Instance, for three years or more, are Indelibly spotted, whereas the lungs of a countryman are nomally pink and white." That part of Manhattan Island below Fourteenth, street ha a week-day riopula tlon of at least 1.003,000 in the rush .?urs," says a correspondoiit of the Pittsburg Dis patch. "Between 8 o'clock In the morning tntl 6 at night It Is crowded so uncom fortably that there Is no living In the quarter. One thousand bar rooms are do ing a business that would scandalise be lievers In temperate drinking and create a condition of despair among advocates of teetotalism and prohibition. The restau rants thrive; the hat stores, the shoe shops, the shirt infirmaries, the cigar deadfalls and all the retail places of whatever de scription are simply little mints for the receivers of small change. At night after 7 all is changed. A million of the popula tion quit the quarter and go home to Har lem, to Jersey, upstate, uptown, and the Lord knows where. All Is still where teeming multitudes waged their wars an hour before. The watchman and the po licemen are the only ones left. One might take oft his clothes under the statue of George Washington at the subtreasury building In Broad street and walk through the great financial district without scandal. He would encounter only a few dago sweepers and an occasional somnolent po liceman. The streets of the financial dis trict are so still and the acoustics from the high buildings so perfect that an or dinary voice carries a block. That is at night. At noon one must shout into tho ear of his fellow pedestrian to make him self understood. There are not over two good restaurants open on Manhattan Island below Fourteenth street after I p. m. Even the famous old Aator House is deserted after that time. A lot of cheap beaneries hold the watch for wayfarers and turn up messes of beans and ham or fried eggs In sufficient quantities to murder appe tites to satisfy Is out of the question. To be below Fourteenth street at night is worse than isolation. Better far to be in Newark. N. J., or Painted Post, Kan. There is nothing doing except along Park Row. where 600 or so reporters and newspaper workers make things a little lively on their way uptown." The voters of New York are to have an opportunity at the November election to record their wishes as to an Immense scheme for better public highways. The question Is whether or not the state of New York shall issue good roads bonds to the amount of tiO.OOO.OOO. which la tha largest amount of money that is proposed anywhere for an improvement of this nature. Btated brifly. the plan Is to glvs New York with its 74.000 miles of roads a sys tem which at the end of ten years will embrace 7,400 miles of good trunk line roads, at an outlay of $5,000,000 a year. As the law now stands the state pays one-half the cost of road improvements and the county or towns the other half. The proposed bonds are to run through a period of" fifty years. An expert on the matter says: "Reports from the different parts of the state indicate that the people in the rural districts are almost unani mous in their approval of the bond issue. The granges have taken the matter up with earnestness, and many have passed resolutions in favor of It. The greatest danger is in the fact that voters In ths larger cities will either not understand or annreclate the value of the measure to them." The first thing that catches the eye of the visitor to the office of William Travers Jerome, in the criminal courts building, Is a plain cardboard sign, says an ex change. It says: "Open game." The slga Is a souvenir of one of the district attor ney's raids on gambling houses. The little piece of cardboard was posted for a num- ! btr of years over a poker table In a well ' known gambling house and it informed I the patrons of the house that he who had the price to buy a "stack" could sit In if there was a vacant staU PERSON I, OTK. Secretary Shaw Is said to have been of fered the presidency of a trust company. There's Something tangible In that. If ths author of ''Everybody Works Put Father" makes $10,000 out of his sons, as predicted. It Is certainly the haul of fame. Thomas Lowry, the Twin City traction king, has purchased and presented to Minneapolis fhe fnmnus old Lincoln car. which was an Omaha relic until two years ago. Vnder the will of the late Frank Harvey Cellley of Boston a bequest of $70,000 Is left to the Massachusetts Institute of Tech nology for the equipment and maintenance of the proposed Walker memorial building of the Institute. William M. Ivlns, who has been nomi nated by the republicans for mayor of Now Tork, Is a lawyer, author and publicist. Ho Is about 65 years of age. When William R. Grace was mayor of New York Mr. Iv!n was his official secretory. One of the New York banks has adopted a most stringent rule against the use of In toxicants by Its employes. Every man In the service of the bank has been required tn sign an agreement that he will not even enter any place where Intoxicants are sold. William Klngaley, who was born In Ire land In 1783 and fought with Nelson at Tra falgar, Is now living at the age of 122 near Bloomflehl. Mo. He fought In the Crlnvm war, assisted In the taking of Sebnstopol and In this country fought In the Mexican and civil wars. William Keating Is saving his board and $10 a day for ten days in the New York county Jail. He was fined $100 In the court of special sessions for running an auto mobile at the rate of fifty miles an hour In Riverside avenue. He had the option of a fine of $100 or ten days in jail. He chose the jail. "COMMERCIAL LYXCH LAW." rrartlce Common with Railroads De nounced by Spokesman. Baltimore American. The most Inveterate opponent of rail way rate legislation must admit that the address of President Samuel Spencer, of the Southern railway, to the Newark Board of Trade, Is more impassioned than convincing. Whatever may be said of the advocacy of rate legislation by President Roosevelt, no one can fairly assert that It Is not sincere or that it in any sense savors of demagoglsm. Those organiza tions which practically represent the en tire shipping class of the country are pro nouncing In favor of this legislation, un less they happen to belong to the favored class. To denounce rate legislation as "com mercial lynch law" must keenly concen trate attention upon the causes which have led to all this discussion. If the railroads themselves had never engaged In commercial lynching the Interstate Com merce commission would never have been conceived, and there would now be no dis cussion of extension of the powers of that body. Railway managers have ad mitted discrimination In favor of certain shippers. They have admitted charges for short hauls out of all proportion to those for long hauls, and other discrepan cies in rates of a varied character have been confessed by railway officials which are absolutely antagonistic to the prin ciple of fair play. If not to the "funda mental principles of Anglo-Saxon Jurispru dence," which are so dear to .the heart of President Spencer. But let railway managers take heart of grace. There Is not a desire In the mind of anyone to Injure the railroads. Those v ho Vslieve In such legislation would re lieve the railroads from that bondage to other corporations to which the managers have confessed. In any event, there can be no harm in submitting the matter to congress at a time when it may be calmly discussed In the new light which has been recently thrown upon the question. The house of the last congress passed a bill, which was not satisfactory to Itself, with out discussion, and merely for the pur pose of shunting the problem over to the senate. The proposition will be temper ately considered In all Its phases, and President Spencer will have full oppor tunity to elaborate upon his theory of lynch law. It may be predicted in ad vance that President Roosevelt will be satisfied with what he looks upon as a square deal for all sides to the contro versy. Antl-Amerlean In Porto Rico. Harper's Weekly. If we wefit no farther into details than the broad general fact of the present at titude toward us of the people of Porto Rico, as compared with their attitude when we first came among them, a strong pre sumption would be established, not only that things had been going radically wrong In some way, but that responsibility for the wrong rested. In some degree at least, upon our own shoulders. There Is now sweeping over this Island a wave of anti- Americanism too Intense and too wide spread to be accounted for by any of the standard explanations of Porto Rlcan dis content. If discontent alone, in however Intense a form, fully covered. In broad character isation, tha state of mind of the people here, then those standard explanations might suffice. But, unfortunately, an analysis of Porto Rlcan sentiment toward American administration of the Island yields elements less agreeable than even the most aggravated forms of discontent. Disintegrated into its component parts, we find liberated from Forto Rlcan antl-Amer-Icanism a very considerable quantity of disgust and just about an equal amount of contempt. You walk with her, you rock her, you give her sugar, you try aM kinds of things! But she coughs all through the long night, just the same ! No need spending another night this way. Just a dose or two of Ayers Cherry Pectoral will soothe the throat, quiet the cough, insure a good night's rest. Ask your doctor about the wisdom of your keeping this remedy in the house, ready for these night coughs of the children. Doctors have the formula. They know all about this medicine. jtsde by tfc. I O. At Oe . Lev Aim sbuiftutarrs or ATYI'8 Vint TIOOB-Por te Uir. AIKa't sUAaAPaklttA-rM tse klood. LEGISLATIVE! HOLDITS. nail the Remedy. Diliiiffrt News. There is, unfortunately, only tno much reason to credit the statements of James M. Reck, special counsel for the Mutus' Life Insurance company, when he cotn nlnins that the Insnrnnre rnrnnraelons are blackmailed and sandbagged by state legis latures. The publlo is prepared to sdmlt that corruption Is rife In many of these bodies and to take Its own share of the blame for this condition. It may be readily believed, also, that the companies In their dealings with the legislatures have fi.r their chief object not the purchase of favorable legislation, but the prevention of legislation adverse to their Interests, Mr. Beck continues: "Censure If you will the hapless passen ger In a stagecoach who puts a premium upon robbery by surrendering some part of his valuables rather than be killed, but let our stern moralists visit their greatest condemnation upon the legislative high waymen who hold up these great business Interests and, above all. upon an Indifferent people who clothe these highwaymen with the power to hold up their victims." Mr. Beck's metaphor Implies that the life-insurance companies have been meet ing the legislative plunderers upon their own terms. They have yielded to tho demands made upon them. Accepting his view that tlfey were forced to this ex tremity in self-defense, what have they been doing toward remedying bad condi tions? Their proper course, plainly, lay In taking active measures to bring about the detection and exposure of the high waymen and to stimulate a popular move ment for legislative reform. It doos not appear that the life Insurance companies have taken this course. Subject to the predatory attacks of lawbreakers, they not only have submitted to be robbed, hut have fulled to exert ' themselves for the apprehension of the robbers. They have fought corruption with the weapons of corruption, Instead of aiding and guid ing the public In efforts to extirpate It. That corporations should be subjected to blackmailing operations Is Infamous, of course. But the way for them to protect themselves Is by moving against the black mailers, not by silently submitting to the extortion and thus encouraging It. Busi ness considerations apart, these companies are under lcgul and moral obligation to lend their Influence toward destroying the corruption of the legislatures. When they have taken this stand the apology Mr. Beck offers on their behalf will carry much more force and conviction than It does at present. PASSING PLEASANTRIES. First Broker-Dropping a million vester day didn't seem to disturb Smallfunds a particle. Second Broker No; he tells me his wife Ms had a pretty good week at bridge. j-juusiuu nromcie. "Do preacher wuzn't feelln nn1 In. meet in' day, an' he made de stove preach de sermon." "Made de stove preach?" "Yes made It redhot fum top ter bottom an' den tol' do sinners ter take a good look at It an' go tnr thlnkin'!" Atlanta Consti tution. New Englander fvlsltlng In Kansas) Why don't you raise punklns out here? Kansan We tried It, but the soil Is too rich for 'em. The vines grew so- fast thnt the punklns got all skinned up draggln' over the ground. Judge. Columbus was arguing that tha world was round. "Otherwise," he declared, "some woman would certainly have made the four corners cosey ones." Clearly convinced Ferdinand withdrew his opposition, New York Tribune. "Some grocers." remarked the customer, "have an- offhand way of weighing sugar, but I notice you're not one ot them-" : ' "Offhand wayT Kow do you mean?" asked the grooer. "I noticed yon kept your hand on the scales Just now while you measured nut that five pounds for Bae." Detroit Fres Press, Old Hunks was paying; his gas bill, which amounted to $?.Co. "It's only about half what I thought It would be," he said. "I guess your Inspector must have made a mistake." "Well. If that's so," the cashier answered, "we'll even It up with you next month." "Not much!" chuckled old Hunks. "Not with me. I've sold the place." Chlcugo Tribune. TIIE CANDIDATE. New York Sun. Blithely the candidate Puffs his cigar. Making each iiandy date; Bright Is his star! Fame why the fist of hel Points at him straight. Jlmlny Christopher, isn't It great! Mark with what fluency Rolls his address. Wise constituency I. ikes It, I gtn.'FS. After strong passages Comes the glad newst Acres of sausages, Oceans of booze. Fame, with a toss of her Head, leads the way; Barroom philosopher Simply gets gay Drinking the health of him Gladly 'mid cheers Swiftly the wealth of hint Melts into beers. Tickling his vanity Innocent soul! And with urbanity "Touching" his "roll." Graft for the cityful, Signing the check, Every committee full Up to the neck. Henchmen say breezily That he will win; Then, oh, so easily, "Touch" him' again. Still though he's cheerily Moving about. Oft he asks wearily: Will it pan out? ell. ArSR'S PIM 8 For aesstiMMca. AIkk'8 A0U CUKa-Vw ualaru SJ V- - ar t