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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 1907)
6 THE OMAHA DAILY BEEz THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1007. Tun Omaha Daily Dee FOUNDED BT EDWARD ROSEWATER VICTOR R08EWATEH, EDITOR. Entered lit Omaha postofflc second HM matter. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. Pally Be (without Suoday) .on yaar..$4 0 Iwllr Bea and Sunday on yW -0 Hunan Bee, one year ...... 10 bat ur day Uh, on year LH TiELIVERED BT CARRIER. Pally Be (Including Bunday), pef week.. 15 Pally He (without Buna?), per week. ..10a Evening Be (without "undey. per week, to livening Bra (with Sunday., per week. .. .10 Address complalnte of Irregularities In delivery to City Circulation Department orncjcs. Omaha Tha Be nulldlng. Booth Omaha City Hall Hu'ldlng. . , Council Bluffs 10 Pearl Btrt Chicago li K Cnlty Ifulldlr New fork ISO. Home Llfo Insurance Bldg, Washington-601 Fourteenth "treat. CORRESPONDENCE. Communications relating la newa and ed itorial matter ahould ba addressed. Omaha Bee. Ealtortal Department. , REMITTANCES. Remit by draft, express or postal order, payable to Tha Bee Publishing Company. Only 2-rent atampa received In payment of mail account personal checka. except on Omaha or eastern exchange, not accepted. THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY. STATEMENT OF CIRCULATION, otate of Nebraska, Douglas County, ss. Charlea C. Braiwttir, general manager of The Baa Publish! Company, being duly aworn. aays that the actual number of full and complete coplea of The Dally. Morning. Evening and Sunday B prtntol durinr tn, month of Apr(, 1907. M as follows:! , 1 33,70 17 3.0 34.00 II. . SS.OQt Zi,H9 It 14.M0 34.390 JO 85,010 S4.3S0 il 13,360 , 34,330 22 38.090 . T 31,400 it... 33,300 1. 84,260 3 4 ... 4 ..... . 35.430 1 34,450 2 5.. , . 38,473 It 34,800 2. 3oO9 11 34,410 27 3S.B30 ll... 38,730 21 34,600 II 30,890 21 38,810 14 33,400 10 38,660 II 34,680 ' 1 34,830 Total 1038.410 Lees unsold and returned coplea. S.8S4 Nat total. 1,088,840 pally a ventre 34484 CHARLES C. ROSE WATER. General Manager.' Subscribed In my presence and aworn to before ma thle 10th day of April. 1007. (Baal.) hi. B. HUNOATE. Notary public. WHEN OCT Of TOWH. aaeorlbere learlna; tha elty teas, porarlly ahonld hav Tha Be tailed to them. Addreaa vlll ba chaaaed ai of tea as repeated. . Th. weather man mast be trying to match the hoqdoo number of King Alt Sar-Ben XIII. ' " Maypole dances this year are very leallstlc . The dancers hate to tep .it lively to keep warm. f mm xxavy aeparimem cierK wno ; has been bitten by the '.White House i dog should know better than to look like a railway magnate. i. . . . . . Idaho Is apparently on good be havior during the Haywood trial and is proving an exception to the old adage that Boise. will be Botae. Texas has parsed a law to tax, the "intangible assets" of railroad com panies. "Intangible assets" is as near as a Texan can come to talking about water! Senator Tillman has demonstrated that the pitchfork, like, tho lariat, is more valuable as an advertising me dium than as a weapon of offense or defense. The activity of railroad men in so- Uniting passenger traffic is the best - answer to their assertion that the 2- cent fare is a money-losing proposition for them. ' The only defect in the plan of Pres '. ident Dins for a reconfederatlon of the Central American states la that Presi dent Dial declines to have anything to do with It. According to a St. Petersburg dis patch, the "Russo-Anglo-Franco-Japa-nese entente" is already a "fait ae ( compli." The kaiser has"- another name. for. iU v.T, . - i If Mr. Rout resigns from the cabinet , the president would have to select a ! new secretary of the treasury, as Mr. i Cortelvou would naturally move Into, ' Mr. Root's chair. v An epic poem, 20,000 words long, written by Ibsen in 1864, has been discovered. It is only fair to the par ties who found it to explain that they were not looking for it. ' And now the village of Florence Is said to have nailed down the lid. Council Bluffs, however, Is, still a con venient haven of refuge for the thirst quencher, and the tiger-hunter. Kansas City ice dealers convicted of combining to control prices have been fined in sums aggregating $2 8,000. The ice men have appealed presumably to alva the court time to cool off. Senator Piatt says he Is sorry he 'ever made it possible tor Theodore Roosevelt to become president. The (senator appears to regret the only act ttbe country has placed to his credit. The Commoner Is carrying a govern ment advertisement soliciting recruits for tha army end navy. The Com moner's business manager evidently Iocs n.t share the editor's rabid antt- haliitarlsm views. Grover Cleveland "deplores condl lons that, exist at this time tn the temocratic party." The statement la Ignlfloant in showing that Mr. Cleve land still rerognUeB the existence of Ihe democratic party. . Senator Til 1 nun has corue to the onclus'.on tlist President Roosevelt la iot honest and sincere la his Ideas and 1bo that hw Is a coward on big things. t is not necetsary even to guess what onclnsion Tresldat Rooseve't. -hits tea h rs riKAS ron rtitx its. The school oRlclsls of Oregon appear to enjoy the questionable distinction of being first to respond to Commander Robert E. Peary's plan for promoting bis next North Pole expedition at the expense of the, school children of the United States. The Oregon officials have designated a date to be known as "Peary day," when "each pupil will be asked to contribute from 1 to 5 cents" to the $60,000 needed by Peary to complete his equipment for his next dash to the Arctic circle. The appeal of the officials is accompanied by the statement that Oregon school children Should raise $5,000 toward making up the necessary amount. No Justification can be shown for asking the school children of Oregon or any other state to turn mendicants to collect money for Peary's North Pole trip, for exterminating the boll weevil in the southern cotton fields or for any other such purpose. In the first place, the school children have nothing to gain by the success or fall-' ure of the proposed exploration. So far as they are concerned their geogra phies tell them enough for all practical purpose about the climate, flora and fauna and other conditions in the im mediate neighborhood of the pole. It more specific data Is needed the funds to secure them should be furnished by some of the colleges or learned socie ties that have been liberally endowed by donations to be devoted to scientific research,- or should be supplied by multimillionaires who have hobbles along such lines. If the needed money is not forthcoming from su,ch sources the country will be able to worry, along in. ignorance for a while longer Jnst as it has done since the pole was located as a part of the first six day's work, the record of which is found in the first chapter of t"hf Great Book.. 'r - ' The brinclpal objection to the pres ent scheme is the attempted use of the country's school children as solicitors for the fnnd. No scliool board or corps of teachers has any right to au thorize, permit or request school chil dren to raise money in response to Buch appeals. IBDrt poKtlTTOtf8At PAKJMA. " Steam shovel engineers at Panama striking' for $300 a month Instead of the $250 they are now receiving are not in position to command much sym pathy from their fellow workmen at home. The striking engineers make no complaint against conditions on the iethmus, so far as recorded, but simply ask for an increase over what appears to be very liberal pay ' for their serv ices. . . 1 The demands ' of skilled workmen on the isthmus were presented to Sec retary Taft, at the time of his recent visit to Panama, and while he refused to grant any .requests for Jncreased pay, except in specific-instances, he made concessions .designed to- accom plish a similar end. He decided that each employe should have a thirty-day leave of absence each year, with pay, and' that married men should ; have houses furnished them rent free. Con clusive evidence has been offered to show that sanitary conditions on the isthmus are almost perfect and that the death rate among employes is less than that In most American cities. Un der such conditions, with steady em ployment at wages fully double those received by workmen similarly" em ployed in the states, it would appear that the stewm shovel workers cannot have much cause for their strike. A 1ft W HCAPSOOAT CHVSEN. In personal Interviews and through their well-trained publicity bureaus prominent railroad managers are en deavoring to convince the public that the Steel trust Is the real culprit that must shoulder responsibility and cen sure for the appalling increase In fa tal wrecks on American railroads.- At tempts to.. prove that the 'wreck epi demic' was due to the neglect of op erating managers, - the' , incompetence of trainmen or the failure oj railroad managers to equip their lines with safety devices have all been answered by tihe railroad managers, who have succeeded In shifting the responsibility from time' to lme, as emergency and conditions demanded.! until they now profess to have It 'firmly attached to the Steel trust and charged to a desire of the trust to make profits at the ex pense of safety of the traveling public. The new scapegoat was formally in troduced at the recent meeting of the American Railway association in Chi cago' by reports alleging that Investi gations showed defective rails to have been the cause of many recent acci dents. A wink Is as good as a nod to a blind horse or a section foreman, and since the Chicago meeting the general managers have been flooded with re ports showing that practically all the wrecks have been due to prosen rana. Since then the publicity bureau has been heraldlngas the real reason for tallroad wrecks the cupidity of the Steel trust In placing quantity of out nut above Quality.. U Is asserted that the Steel trust has refused to comply with the specifications furnished by railroad managers for steel rails, but has rolled rails according to Its own epeclflcatlons and baa refused td give the five-year guarantee furnished in the old days when competition existed in the stuel business. One big eastern railway has carried the advocacy of the new plan to the point of making its own specifications for 143.000 tons of steel rstls recently ordered and an nounces Us refusal io accent the rails unless its terms are followed by the trust. This renponslblllty-shlrklng effort of the railroad manogors is foredoomed .to failure.. Th" publls appreciates the close relations existing between . the aUrosd 'rotnpals nnd tho Stel truHt cd undciiUUiIs Uut lUo trust U dom inated and controlled by the same men who control the great railway systems of the country. Any attempt to show that the railroads are unable to get rails or other goods manufactured as they want them Is puerile. The rail way managers are in no way relieved of the responsibility of testing these "defective" rails before using them and of refusing to accept them if they fall to come up to the standard of safety. But there Is evidently a Joker In use In the new deal. Steel trust directors announce that, owing to the loss of material occasioned by making rails according to specifications de manded by the railroads,-there will be no Increase in the dividends on com mon steel stock. In other words, the Steel trust will assume the responsibil ity for wrecks It it is compensated by a reduction of dividends to holders of common stocks. ANOTHER QRAKT TO BE STOWED. The report of the county auditor shows np in true dimensions the size Sof another graft in the sheriff's office which should be stopped. This graft arises from the use of the Douglas county Jail as a place of custody for federal prisoners and for prisoners sent here for safe keeping from Sarpy county. ' It has been known that the sheriff was deriving a snug revenue from these two sources, but the exact ex tent of this revenue has for reasons personal to himself been carefully cov ered up. The payments for care aud keep of Sarpy county rjrlsoners In tho Douglas county Jail prove to have made an aggregate of $987 for last year and for the past three years to have averaged over $900. The pay ments for care and keep of federal prisoners for 1906 are $1,598 and for the preceding year $2,518, and pre sumably have averagdd not less than $1,500 for several years. All of this money has been pocketed by the sher iff as perquisites of office and no part of it paid Into the county treasury. In th,is connection it should be re membered that the county not only furnishes the Jail building, heating, lighting and equipment, but also pays for the Jailers, guards and matrons by salary allowance out of the fees earned In Douglas county so that the only expense to be offset against this extra Income is the cost of food and clothing for the inmates from outside. It is also sa fe to assume that it the sheriff were allowed to retain for the6 pris oners the same, amount which he is paid for feeding Douglas county pris oners he would rtlll be making a fat profit on the business. Every cent which the present sheriff and. his predecessors have collected and . rstalned from Sarpy county or from the federal government in excess of the amount allowed by the county board for Jail feeding properly belongs to the taxpayers pf Douglas county and should, have been paid into the county treasury. . .On the Sarpy county prisoners, for which $1 a day Is paid, this would amount to 60 cents per prisoner per day, and on the federal prisoners, for which 55 cents per pris oner per day is paid. It would amount to 15 cents for each Jail day. and In the aggregate to many thousand dol lars. The county board should make a de mand on the sheriff for the repayment of this money and follow up a refusal by suits to recover tt. There is no more reason why the sheriff should pocket money paid for keeping outside prisoners In the county Jail than the superintendent of the county hospital should pocket money exacted for keep ing patients coming from outside coun ties. The World-Herald has discovered a suspicious-looking business venture by which the republican state auditor has become a member of a concern organ ised to act as agent for foreign cor porations doing by sines in Nebraska, as required by a newly enacted law, charging a fee tor service as a matter of course. It must be conceded that this looks as if the state auditor were inclined to be thrifty. But what about the democratic city prosecutor who hired out to a guaranty bond company so that the latter might use his name and official prestige to secure business from Saloon keepers liable to police court prosecution? The World-Herald forgot to denounce this business ven ture on the part of the democratic city prosecutor when it was shown up by The Bee. What is the difference 'twlxt tweedle dee and tweedle dum? Omaha has. a new park commis sioner. It Is Just possible that the membership of the board may yet be so constituted that the park fund will be used exclusively for park purposes without diverting any of the money to the paving of streets invested with the naine "boulevard" for a day. All excursion steamers plying on tho Missouri will be privileged to dock un der the Douglas street bridge on the one condition that they keep out of the way of freight steamers and barges. That condition ought not to be hard to comply with. That democratic city platform must be a great thing. Every reform or concession which Ihe people of Omaha may secure from whatever 8oacefor three years will be promptly credited up to that platform by the local demo cratic organ. A Chicago man attempted to com mit suicide by hanging, but was so fat that the rope broke. Then he Jumped Into Lake Michigan, but was loo fat to sink.-' The only course left to him Is to become a strike breaker. . . The arrival of Senator Tillman In Omaha, sehPduled for I o'clock In the afiersJou, was delayed until 6 o'clock In the evening, but that did not pre vent our Junior Yellow from sprinting an Interview with him here In Omaha two honrs before he came" Within sight of the city. 8nch fs enterprise. Tralalnar for tha Fray. 8t. Lou I a Globe-Democrat. That Speaker Cannon la a condldnte for president can no longer he doubted. Hi In wearing a hat that makea him look twenty yeare younger than tha Oaler limit. Mora Timber In Slaht. Kanaaa City Journal. The leading planka of Mr. Bryan's plat form thu far are government ownership and the Initiative and referendum, but there la still time enough for him to filch a few more vagorlea from tha poptillata befora tha conventlona aaeemble. Obey or Qalt the rnatare. Kanaaa City Times. Katurnlly the Pullman Car company and the Weatern Union Telegraph company are dlatretned by ' writs of( oaater. laaucd by the Kanaaa supreme court. . They must obey the Kansas lawa or quit the state, and both compsnlra are reluctant to ven ture upon any auch Innovation at this late day. ' . Base Mhel on Illnatrtona Dade." Baltimore Amerioan. The old raalds and baehelora of Omaht hnve been warned by th city fathers that If they have not embarked upon the sea of matrimony by the end of sixty daya they will be -heavily fined. The chance the regulation offers ef engaging tn matri mony, and at the name time Of saving I money, la one that muet commend itself to everyone who ha any regard what ever for thrift. Greatest Migration.. In History. National Geographic Magazine. No migration In history ig comparable to the great hordea that have crossed the Atlantic during the last twenty years to enter our territory. In 1905 1,026,469 Immi grant were admitted; In 1906 1,100.7 'and In the present year the total will exceed the record of 106 by -many thousands. Blnce June 20. W-0. 6,000,000 have been ad mitted, of whom probably- 8.600,000 have settled permanently In the United States. Aa Appalling- Record. Indianapolis News. Besides the frightful wreck on the South ern Pacific railroad on Saturday, In which thirty-two people were .killed and more than twenty were Injured, there have been flva other railroad "accidents" since Satur day, In which) six people were killed and perhaps a dnsen tnjirred. Perhaps there were others, but these accidents were re ported. This business Is " scandalous and criminal. Nothing like It wss "ever before known In a civilised Country. ' Profit of tho Sqnare Deal. Kansas City Times. "American meat is . the best In - the world?' asserts the secretary of agricul ture, Mr. Wilson. This statement will have tha rame effect : as the stamp of "sterling" on silver because It was the American government which had the cour age to say that' conditions were bad In the packing Industry when they were bad. The Beef trust "Scandal" will be worth millions of dollars to the packers and to the American producers 'of cattle. The square deal pays always. " . DI.ESS1SOS AND A CIR8E. Good and III Sprtasrlnsf froip the Set tlement at 'jnnieatown. New"Tor)i Sun. . ' It has been observed" In the speeches made at the exposl'tlrihV that while much' stress has been laid u'pW the' blessing that we owe to Jamestown, little has been aald about the curse. Undoubtedly It was at Jameatown in 1619 that the right of rep resentative self-government was first con ceded to American Colonlata, but It waa tn the same year that the Importation of negro slaves from Africa, began. It may ba urged that we are 'indebted to Jamea town for the antidote as, well aa the bans, but the efficiency of ' represenatlve self government, considered as a cure for the Inherited consequences of slavery, seems not to have been 'relied upon by tbo.se southern states which ' have deemed 1t needful to disfranchise their colored cltl sens. On the whole, however, our obliga tions to Virginia, of which Jamestown Is a symbol, are Indisputably Immense. W? owe to It Patrick Henry, George Wash ington and Thomas Jefferson, and it was no fault of hers, but the fault of South Carolina and Georgia, and of compromis ing New Englanders, that the Institution of slavery was Imbedded in our , federal constitution, BRANDS OP DEMOCRACY. Attorary General Roaapartc'a Speech aad Dr. Miller's Aaawer. New York Sun. When Attorney General Bonaparte 'deliv ered his "plea and swill" speech In Boston last weekA speech , wh'ch. will become famous In time If he keeps on repeating It he was seized with a, violent attack of partisanship. In fact, he accused the democrutlc party of having no principles, only the motto,. "Anything1 to Win," and said that H had always been so and always would. . This Wss all the more astonishing, as it had never been supposed that the at torney general's republicanism was of so warm and excessive a type. The effective answer to his charge seems, however, to be that made by Dr.. George U Miller of Omaha, who Is stay ng" Id this city. It la true that In the course of tbe interesting Interview which he gave Dr. Miller did not uliude to Mr. Bonaparte's Boston speech. For all that appeared In It, he might nevnr have heard of the attorney general. Yet his answer was none the Ices an answer on. that account. According to Dr. Millar, who Is a demo cratMr. Bryan would any "calls himself one" the democratic party was not out to win In ISA and ls.no more out to win !n WA with the dominance of Bryan in pr:s pict. The party's attachment to tho IVn coin orator, ss Dr. Miller sees It, srls defeat because Bryan Is not working for tho democracy, but for Bryan; and la xot a democrat, only n populist masquerading as such. Considering his opportunlt'e as a Nf braskan to estimate Mr. Bryan's qual ities when he Is not on parade, and In view of the mere or less intimate knowledge of populism which Dr. Miller sa a Nebraskm nuuKt necessarily ha"e, some dene of cx pcrtness should be attributed to this view: "Brysn Is the chief muse cf defent In the deniocrstlc party. He Is for hlmelf always, and he Is not a demicrst. He Is tt popjll't marqueradin; as a democrat. It's latest outbreak has been to proclaim his belief In ths Initiative snd referendum. That means mob rule. Rut Bryan thinks only of his chance to attract th people with a catchword. I hel'evr that Rryvn will lend the pirty to defeat rnce sisulr In IMA. M'ith Bryan once nioro ihrnwn over by tha pop'e, the democracy will wake up tn the reul iesuea ant will f orge onward victory." As a large number of democrats we mean men who call thmelvs qm"erats look upon' the Bryan obsession of their party In piwIiK'X the name way aa Dr. Miller do.'S. it nvjet be obvious tint the party's pres ent oppureiit acceptance of Mr. Bryan's leadership lnd1rste that It is far Trcm de srrvlnr thi 1-hei whlrh Afton-y General Ilainaiurta acl-ht to autlv to U OEIERtl, OFFICf.RS OF TUB B larae Mat of PreaMen t lal Appolat menta Rooked for Year. Washington Herald. Four appointments of general officers In the army are yet to be made by the presi dent during .the yenr ti7. The first of these is a brigadier general on the Inst., uporf the retirement of l?r1gadlr General Constant Williams; then there will be the opportunity to appoint a makr general In the place of Major General W. C. McCsskey, who retires rm October & and a brigadier general In place of the officer of that grade who la selected for the major generalship; the flnM appoint ment is possible on October . when Prlgo dler General R. S. Godfrey retiree. There has been an unusual number of presiden tial appointments possible to the grades of brigadier and mnjor general during the present year. The appointments so far have been distinguished above other sim ilar selections during the Roosevelt ad ministration for a return to the system which recognises seniority, experience and Individual record. Of course, In the ap pointments made with flagrant disregard of the rights of senior officers, and repre sented by such prodigious Jumps as thooe of Wood, Bell, Carter. Bliss, Parry. Mills and Pershing, there was a plausible clnlru that the beneficiaries were able officers, of splendid record, and many of them had realised that qualification. But they were no less example- of- a pernicious principle, which had -the effect. In the end, of pro ducing dlacouragement and dlsmav, whllo military discipline was correspondingly de moralised. The Insatiable desire for )n- Jectlng youthfulnras In the personnel of army general officers was an alluring prop osition In theory, and It found some ad vocates who Imagined they mljht at such a time meet that requirement, while they commanded the pull which would give, them the place. The older . officer, who served faithfully and modestly, much. If not all of the time distant from Washington, without the possibility of making friends, was forgotten, and It must be much to his gratification' that those of his class are going to be regarded as entitled to execu tive consideration In the selection of briga dier generals and major generals of the army. The Jump of the Juniors Introduced a devastating factor' In military administra tion. It threatened to destroy the Integ rity of the best traditions of the military personnel, and It IS with satisfaction that army officers turn to the hope which Is now promoted by Mr. Roosevelt's; recent appointments to the grade of brigadier general, that the senior colonels of In fantry, cavalry and artillery have com-) to their right free of the Jeopardy of ab normal promotion. FIRE LOSSES AT SAN FRANCISCO. Figures from Inanraape Sources and Individual Calculations. Fan Francisco Chronicle. The actual loss of property in this city by the Are of last April can never be known. Probably the estimates of tha In surance companies are the best which we shall ever have, and the president of the National Board of Underwriters places them at 1360,000,000, on which there was in surance . to the amount of 17B,fio8,HO. It may be that President Burcheli meant that the sum named waa what was actually paid. A great deal of Insurance was compromised and a compara. tlvely small amount was repudiated and Is now in litigation In Germany. Many of tho companies involved were hit so hard that they were compelled to reinsure heav ily, so that the total loss to the companies directly Involved was stated to be between $220,000,000 and $225,000,000. The insurance business, however, as a whole, Is believed to have been entirely rehabilitated by new capjtnl an'd to be on as sound a Tooting as ever, with higher rates generally prevail ing to create a conflagration reserve. The estimate of the Insurers would make the actual net lose to tha people of this city, after collecting Insurance, at least $175,000,000. It was doubtless far mora than that. Insurance estimates of values are always very conservative. The machinery and stocks of going concerns have a value very largely In excess of any that would be placed upon them by Insurance ap praisers, or by the public assessors for tax ation. The actual total net loss can only be guessed at, but It Is presumably some where between the $175,000,000 estimated by the Insurance men and the $300,000,000 "usu ally mentioned In conversation. At any rate,-whatever the amount. It was sufficient to put an end, for the present, to the com plete financial Independence which this city has hitherto possessed and place It where the supply of the demands of Its eltlxcns for financial accommodation wrlll ba more dependent than we have hitherto dreamed of on tha general condition of the American money market and' the confi dence of outsiders In the future of the city. PERSOJIAli HOTES. A M.WO statue of George B. Smtth, "Pittsburg Phil," a rac track plunger, who died two yeara atro, surmounting the $10,000 mausoleum he built In fnlondala cemetery, Pittsburg, Pa., will be unveiled on Memorial day. The statue Is erected by his mother, Mrs. Kllsa Woods. Baron Rosen, the Russian ambassador to Washington. Is one of the finest piano players In Washington. When a youth he studied music In Paris unJer th finest teachfs. ' He and Psderewskl, the great Pollah' pianist. ' are warm friends, having been drawn together years ajo by their mutual love for the piano. Michael Bandrlnga, on his bicycle, was run down by an automobile on the Chicago streets and sued for damanes. The auto mobile Orlver set up tho defense that ho .infii his horn In srnnle time for Bstndrlnfra to aet off the street. The court ' ruled that Bandrlnga wa under no obllta- Hon. to get off the street, and "staked" tne auiomounc niun. General Alexander MacKensle, chief of engineers cf the army, who has charge of all the federal government's engineering projects, attends to the details of sSendlnjr about $50,000,000 annur.lly. He has super vision of all river and harbor Improve- ments, the building of Jtttles. construction of levees, placing of bridges over naviga ble streams and similar work. A colossal monument to Percy Bysshn Shelley, tha poet. Is shortly to be erected near Bun Terenro, Italy, where ho spent the . . . 1. 1 1 . , . ft... t - At.mtf 1H31 UK Jl Ul II n in.-. . ur ipimr Is to be about forty-five U et hlsh ind It to be attached to a cliff faoin the Corn i Magnl, tn which r.e and later Byron lived. I The wurk U being executed by the Italian sculptor. Fontuna. The keynote Is taken from Hhelley's tragedy. "Prometheus Un bound." Inadeiinal fc'.qul pmvat. St. Lcuis Globa-Democrat. The government has called the railroads on the cartel for failing to comply with the law relating to safety appliances. This I? a good move, and the Interstate Com merce commission should not rest until every passenger train in the Isnd shall be equipped with juckrerews for raising and lowering car windowa. l"ler llrmrhona. I New York World. ! By order of the authorities Charles Klnxa- ley's "WeMward, Ho" is to he excluded I from the schools of Tilbury, England, till I certain paasugra arc expunged In pratsu of ! tobacco. After all. times and the British I have not wholly changed since Shakenprsrs i sdornrd th villager Bultiu wilU aa ass's i baud. . . nor.lD ABOfT KKW YORK. Ripples ttio Cwrreat ef Llf Metropolis. Tsxatlon as a means of restricting th billboard nuisance Is rallying to Its sup port a gmup of energetlo and aggresslvs devotees of public denency In New York Cltr and stst. Two pending measures aim to reach the evil by th same mean one a le!slatlve bill, th other an amenJ ment to the ordinances of the city of New York. A bill Introduced In the legislature provide that any object the aurfftc of which is used for the dlsrtay of advertis ing matter shall be tax.d at the rate of 1J cents for each square foot utilised for such purpose, except, that permanent slirns painted In oil shall' h taxed t cents a square foot Blgna not mor than eight feet In either direction are to be exempt from taxation. Wher a rock, tree or othr object of nature Is Used for advertising purposes the owner must ray the highest rat and also $5 a yetr additional. The amendment to the ordinances of the cltr deals with large signs on- the topi, of buildings, limiting their height to five feet above the front wall or cornice and re quiring; a tax of S5 cents a square foot. For fences and blllbosrds there Is to bo an advertising fee of 1 cents a square foot. These fees ore small In amount, but in the aggregate will amount to a large sum. and It Is believed that their adoption would re sult In a material reduction In the slxe of the signs. At Inst the huge lighting monopoly of New York Is to hnve competition. This Is to be accomplished through th com plete reorganization of the Longacr Elec trie Llfiht and Power company, which, un der a recent decision of the court of ap peals, now has the right to place Its wires in the eloctrlc subways. Th monopoly of lighting In New Tork had boen heretofore maintained through th exclusion of all rivals from tha use of these ducts. The I-ongncre company wished mernly to furnish electric light In the theater dis trict, but th trust opposed rvery effort 1t made to lar wire. Now that th highest court ha upheld th right of competitors to use th ducts the Longacre company will amend Its plans, enlarge Its capital and compete with the trust all over the city. ' The lighting monopoly in Manhattan Is absolutely under7 the control of tho Con solidated Gas company, largely backed by Standard Oil Interests. It sells, or rather manufactures, lS.OOO.OOO.OOO cubic feet of gas every year. When electric lighting first beckme popumr there were rrmny small companies furnishing different districts of th city with light and power. When th gas magnates got frightened and though', the small companies were going, to hurt their business, the stock of these concerns was gathered up her and there until two companies controlled them all. ' These com panies were finally merged Into tbe New York Edison company, the entire stock of which Is owned by the Consolidated Gas company. Vic President , Edgar Van Etten of the New York Central, who Is the president of the new corporation, says that applica tions for a large amount of power already have been 'received. One prospective con sumer has signified his Intention to con tract for $150,000 worth of power a year. Electricity, It Is expected, will he furnished so cheap that It will not only cut down the trust's business In eloctrlc lighting and power, but will largely supplant th us of gas. The total bonded debt of the United States Is only $925,000,000, and that of New York City Is already more than hslf that of the national government. At the present rate of Increase th metropolis will have the larger Indebtedness In five years, says th New Broadway Magazine. " The total debts of alf the states In th union amount only to $234,314,190, less than half that of the slngl city of New York. The total state, county and city Indebted ness of the entire United Btates Is less than three times that of the city of millionaires. The great sillltary powers of the world are much concerned over China and Its debt, and yet China has borrowed ony $618,000,000. against $600,000,000 for New York Th entire Dominion of Canada owes only $271,000,000, about equal to New York's in crease In four years. Next to New York th twnty-fiv large cities of the United Btates, In the order of their population, are as follows: Chit-ago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston. Bal timore, Cleveland,' Buffalo, Ban Francisco, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, New Orleans, De troit. Milwaukee, Washington, Newark, Jersey City, Louisville, Minneapolis, Provi dence, Indianapolis, Kansas City, St, Paul, Rochester, Denver and Toledo. Their population, according to the census of 19O0, was about 8,600,000, against 3,437,000 for Greater New York. It la not likely that this proportion has changed much. Now, tho total bondod Indebtedness of these twenty-five cities la about $417,000,004, almost $100,000,000 teas than that of th metropolis I In providing free music, th Sun de clares. New York leads all the cities of America, If not of th world. By some persons London Is put first. In London, they say, free outdoor concerts are riven at noon in summer In populous parts of the city as well as In ths evening. Many thousands of working people often stand patiently during most of the lunch hour listening to the music. In this ret pec t London Is ahead. Bo far New York has not el ven outdoor concerts at noon in the neighborhood of factories and stores. But New York has given about every other kind of free concert, and traveled New Yorkers who know London pretty well say that In the sr pre gate New York's free concerts, counting the free f-o ypP I yraa f the I NATIONAL i' ft r-prs D i winter concerts In with the free oyrn'stV summer concerts, far outnumber tnd-m's free concerts, which are given mainly In th hot season, and not too many of them thtn. In computlns; th other day the 1 of the fr?e wlu'er concert audiences a man ager said that If a quarter of a dollar, a head was charred th returns would ait gregat at least $100,1") In 't ' months. This-estimate did not Include the thron of women who attend the every diy and sll day piano concerts now given In nearly every department store C'nltntC In plsros or In sheot music. NO other cltr to America, thlr man snlS. Snd he had visited most of the largest, gsv or tried to g1v fre dally concerts of any description dur ing the morning or afternoon In th shoos or anr plac els. In spite ft th setbark Mror MeC1. Inn's Vfto has given to the advocates o! the "equal nay fcf equal work" In several arradea of the pnMIn schools.- tho flrrht for the enactment of the White bill, providing for Increases In the silirlr of a larg por centste of iromen teachers will' ba ctlniied vlcorotisly. The women teachers are plsnnlng to send snother de'egatlon to Alt-TV snd a petl t'on with the slmstures of I'O.W In favor of tV meanr wMt be rend." In s dav or two to he taken to the carHf'. Th tesch ers express themselves aa undlsmsved by the mavor's veto nnd say they sr renew. Ir the fight with th eToeetstlon ths.t tSe will eventually wH. "hould th vetA be unheld bv t lrl'Miire th measure will be Introduced at Albany next sslnft. The sale of rrlti!ra Honors Is Increas ing rapidly In New York Cltv and mT noticeably so In Manhattan and the Bronx, which Sre sellng liquor under 2ro mor certificates from th Plate Excise depart ment than were Issued last rear. It l estimated bv the head of one of th large tobacco estiMlsbments of New Yorlt that at least $5,000 worth of tobtcco Is dally thrown wur In the city In unconsumed cigars and cigarettes. SAID IX FIX. "That musician Is very particular. Isn't hef" v "Oh, dear me, dreadfully so. Why, he won't play a fin lullaby on anything els but a baby grand piano. Baltimore Amer ica n. ' "It Isn't hard to understand why some Jokes tickle," spoke tip Uncle Allen Sparks. "It s because of their whiskers. ' Chicago Tribune. Miss Elderlelgh Jane Jones Is a mean, spiteful old cat. Miss Youngster What's th matter? Mlaa Elderlelgh I told her that my fam ily came over In the Maylower and sl, asked me If I was seasick. Cleveland Plala dealer. "I suppose you regard marriage as failur.'r "No," replied, the lady who had secured three divorces. "I've succeeded In getting a fair bunch of alimony each time." Chloaga Record-Herald. Redd I sea monekeys are remarkably keen of sight but deficient In the sense of smell. Greene That's the reason we see so many of "em in automobiles, I suppose? Yonkers) Statesman. "Why do you look at me like that, yotl great, awkward bear?" "Oh, Miss Pimmle, I I protest I'm not s a bear." , , "Well, why aren't your Chicago Trib une. "That seemed such a queer marriage of Robinson's. How did he come to select his bride?" il iouna inoy u ejiw ' r.m. In the family for twelve years." Baltl- mur aiiici iL-an. The promoter had old town lots that nmvMt to he on tha ton of a loftv srd barren mountain. "Did you not claim," said an Indignant. 4 Investor, "that there waa a city there 7" ; "Go easy," replied the promoter, "don't get excited. We all build castles In ths " air, you know." Philadelphia Ledger. . , .,, "Friends sometimes have short mem ories," said on cynic. "It depends," answered the other, "on, whether the friend Is borrowing or lend ing." Washington Star. "Phew!"' exclaimed the visitor, "what's that cdor?" "That," replied the native, "Is th trade wind." "The trad wind?" "Ye, that breeie comes from tbe south--ern end of town, where the glue factory end other manufacturing plain's are." Philadelphia Presc. WEATHER PROPHKTS OP CACTI'. Denver Republican. W are aeeful her in Cactus, and we d not kick or carp. But we've had a heap of trouble with a sclonced westher sharp: He wss sent here by the Gov'ment, with his charts and wind machine And a diagram fer teilln' when the rain la wet or mean. We'd depended on Unk Peters lo those long and many years Fer a-prophosyln' weather o when this here sharp appears And some competition enters, we rules thus in the case: The prophet who comes nearest Is the on who holds the plac. Well, the first day Uncle Barn's man says 'twas sure to rain a bit And old Uncle Pet saya eunshfne and Pete's guessln' mad the hit; But the second day Pete lost out, which made the score a tie. And 'twas aclenc 'gainst th goosebon when the third guess drew nigh. The weather shsrp was anxious, and h flggered mighty clost, And he didn't sneer at Untie, nor he didn't laugh nor boast; He guesses fair and warmer, snd old Unci saya 'twill blow And sure enough a norther put us two feet ivider enow. So we chased the man of sclenc 'oroat the prairie forty mil. HI wind machine we're usln' for a. , gamblln' wheel awhile; And our old time weather prophet Is ths sort that seema to win 'Cause the weather's been dellghiful, nosy that science don't butt tn.