THE COURIER.
OBSERVATIONS.
Miss Stone.
The robbers who bave captured
Miss Stone demand a ransom of one
hundred thousand dollars for her re
turn. Ours not to reason why or
enter into a debate with men who
will not observe the rules. Miss
Stone should be ransomed Imme
diately and the bandits punished af
terward. Miss Stone says in a letter to
Mr. Peet, treasurer of the Turkish
mission at Constantinople, that she
was captured by some forty armed
men as she was traveling in company
with about twelve students and
teachers from Bankso to Diuraaala.
She says further that this capture
was made "entirely with the knowl
edge of the Turkish and Bulgarian
governments.'' One of the advan
tages of belonging to a strong govern
ment is its ability to protect its
citizens. Miss 3tone is entitled to
protection by this government from
the unspeakable lurk. Whether she
will get it in time or not is still a
question. Republics are slow and
Turkish cruelty and lawlessness is of
so old a growth. The American
Board of Missions can not or will not
provide the ransom, though it sent
Miss Stone over there and is an old
and much vaunted corporation. That
story of the Englishman imprisoned
by robbers in a don-jon keep acres?
the ocean somewhere far, far away,
has occur-ed to a number of her coun
trymen since the capture. England
snta warship and landed a small
army near the keep for the English
man. who was an Irishman. The
English marines, most of them Irish,
marched up the hill, down into the
don-jon and they did not march down
ajrain without their man. It cost
something over a million dollars to
rescue this one blundering, poor man.
It was worth it, though. Since that
time nobody has thouuht it profitable
to capture an inoffensive English
man and detain him against his will.
And since that time every English
man has been prouder of his English
citizenship and more confident of
what it nieaus and of the invincible
dignity and power of a great nation.
If neither America nor the American
Board can rescue Miss Stone and that
other woman with child who is with
her before they are tortured to death
by the savages who captured her, we
have not so much cause for pride as
the Irish Englishman, who for once
in his life was thankful that "home
rule" did not prevail. The Bulgarian
and Turkish monarchs. having ob
served the slowness of this govern
ment and the length af time and of
red tape it requires to collect a bill
or exact compensation for an injury
or an injustice done an American, de
cided to capture a good American by
thj aid of the bandits whose craft is
recognized and receipted for by tiie
governments of Bulgaria and Turkey.
If Miss Stone had been employed by
a railroad company to civilize the
Turks and prepare the social way or
public sentiment for a railway, and
while in the discharge of her duties
she had been captured by the un
speakable Turks who should demand
from the railroad a ransom of one
hundred thousand dollars, what a
roar of immitigable rage would issue
from seventy-five million red, wide
open American throats about soulless
corporations. But a railroad com
pany has more sense of personal re
sponsibility towards its employes and
emissaries than the corporation of
the American Board which is now
trying to satisfy the public and Miss
Stone's family by arguing that if it
accede to the bandits demand for
one hundred thousand dollars, all
their missionaries may be stolen.
After making this statement, which
is true concerning the payment or all
ransoms, the American Board pro
mulgates a petition to the people or
this country to raise the ransom
money by subscription.
The Turk does not care a Jot wheth
er the money comes out or the treas
ury or the Board or directly out of
the American people He loves neith
er. In sending Miss Stone to Turkey,
the Board is responsible for her. To
evade the responsibility in the way
the members of it attempt, is most
unworthy any corporatlon.and ir they
continue to shir' responsibility until
Miss Stone and her companion are
harmed, contribution to American
missions abroad should hereafter
reach the missionaries through some
corporation or board which does rec
ognize responsibility to its agents.
If the American Missionary Board
does not immediately send the ran
som money to the agent of the Bul
garian Bandit company who has de
manded it. gifts to that Board for
missions will inevitably be lessened.
Aside from humanity and the com
mon responsibility of a company to
its agents, it is very bad business
policy, considering that the Board
makes constant appeals to the public
for funds. If the Board pays the
money other missionaries may be
abducted; but if the money is not
paid and Miss Stone is killed, retri
bution for the Board, and every hag
gling member of it, is certain. Mr.
Cudahy did not stop to consider the
dangers to his other children when
Pat Crowe demanded twenty-five
thousand dollars for the return of his
son Eddie. And ir Miss Stone were
the daughter or any member or the
Board they would not thus calmly
deliberate. But the Board is hope
less.
When President Roosevelt an
nounced that the American govern
ment would demand rrom the Turkish
government the full amount of the
ransom paid by Americans ror the
ransom or Miss Stone, it seems to me
he admitted that the Turkish govern
ment is responsible for the safety of
an American citizen to the American
government and not to individual
Americans or to any timid, shirking
board. What is one hundred thou
sand dollars to the consciousness in
every American breast that the gov
ernment is strong and able and will
ing to protect every citizen, man or
woman, high or low in a foreign coun
try whose liberty is restrained or
whose person is attacked? How
quickly Eagland would effect the
delivery or Miss Stone and collect the
money afterwards with costs.
Reciprocity.
Steel billets are selling in this coun
try from S2G to 827 per ton. The steel
trust delivers, or can deliver, steel
billets in London at S1G50 per ton.
It costs the English manufacturer
not less than S19 a ton to make steel.
Considering these facts and that
American steel-workers are paid
twice as much as British workmen,
The Mirror inquires "why the Eng
lishmen should get his steel cheaper
from us than he can get it at home
or than we can buy it in America?
Where does it help the American
workmen? The latter gets high
wages but he must eventually give up
what his employer charges other
people. Why should our tariff shut
out English steel when English steel
can not possibly compete with our
steel on English soil? How does A
merica profit by paying more for steel
than it can lay steel down ror in Eng
land? The tariff helps the foreigner
but soaks the American every time."
"Prices are fixed with mathematical
precision by supply and demand. The
world's selling prices are regulated by
market and club reports. Market
prices of products and of securities
are hourly known In every commer
cial mart, and the investments of the
people extend beyond their own na
tional boundaries into the remotest
part of the earth. No nation can
longer be indifferent to any other.
We have a vast and intricate business
built up through years ol toil and
struggle, In which every part of the
country has its stake, which will not
permit or e'ther neglect or or undue
selfishness. No narrow, sordid policy
will subserve it. The greatest skill
and wisdom on the part or manufac
turers and producers will be required
to hold and increase it. Our capacity
to produce has developed so enor
mously, and our products have so
multiplied, that the problem or more
markets requires our earnest and im
mediate attention. Only a broad and
enlightened policy will keep what we
have. No other policy will get more.
In these times or marvellous business
energy and gain, we ought to be look
ing to the ruture, strengthening the
weak places in our industrial and
commercial systems, that we may be
ready ror any storm or strain."
"By sensible trade arrangements
which will not interrupt our home
production, we shall extend the out
lets for our increase surplus. A sys
tem which provides a mutual ex
change of commodities is manifestly
essential to the continued and health
rul growth or our export trade. We
must not repose hi fancied security
that we can rorever sell everything
and buy little or nothing
Reciprocity is the natural outgrowth
or our wonderrul domestic develop
ment under the domestic policy now
firmly established. What we pro
duce beyond our domestic consump
tion must have a vent abroad. The
excess must b3 relieved through a
roreign outlet and we should sell
everywhere we can and buy wher
ever the buying will enlarge our sales
and productions, and thereby make a
greater demand for home labor. The
period of exclusiveness is past. The
expansion or our trade and commerce
is the pressing problem. Commercial
wars are unprofitable. A policy of
good will and friendly rivalry will
prevent reprisals. Reciprocity trea
ties are in harmony with the spirit,
of the times; measures of retaliation
are not."
"If perchance some of our tariffs are
no longer needed for revenue or to
encourage and protect our industries
at home, why should they not be em
ployed and promote our markets
abroad?"
These are the words and this the
final conclusion of President William
McKinley, uttered in his nobis ad
dress at Buffalo, September 5th, 1901,
the last day of health he was per
mitted to have. His words, addressed
as they were to all-America and to
men and women from all parts or the
earth gathered at the great exposi
tion, express the culminating wisdtm
or the first American, a man who
had had the largest opportunity to
learn what is best Tor America. The
republican party cannot afford to dis
regard this advice. The manufac
turera cannot afford to disregard it.
A narrow, selfish policy will limit our
own selliug, will decrease our own
production. Anything which tends
to impoverish or cripple buyers is bad
ror the sellers. We cannot ror long
sell to Germany, England, France and
exclude Germans, Englishmen and
Frenchmen rrom our markets. This
last speech or President McKinley's
should be put in the text books that
the children might learn it and thus
remember it ali their lives as we only
remember those first halting svlla
bles we learned in school readers.
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1
The meeting held at Wayne October
S-ll was one of the most successful in
the history of the federation, and in
point of number and interest exceeded
tho expectations of the members, and it
Was conceded that the committee had
made no mistake in choosing Wayne
as the place of meeting. Wayne le a
beautiful town, and tho federation
brought many, tor the first time, to en
joy the hearty reception and hospitality
that was in evidence on every hand.
Many have felt that this was a critical
time, an important epoch in the history
of the federation, but anyone holding
pessimistic view9 in regard to the future
success of this organization must, in tho
face of such a meeting us this, relin
quish them and give credit to the feder
ation for mors than it claims.
The address of welcome by Mrs. Dress
ier of Wayne was most cordial and Mrs.
Gertrude McDowell of Fairbury gave a
hearty response.
The address or the president, Mrs.
Draper Smith, was clearly and concisely
given, and was full of practical thoughts
and suggestions for the work of the
clubs. Some of the projects worthy the
support of the clubs were tho woman's
property rights bill, the juvenile couit
law to supplement compulsory education,
southern kindergartens for colored chil
dren, pure food law and manual training
in schools for boye and girls. Mrs.
Smith advocated club extension as the
best means of bringing about these
things, and many of the points suggested
in her address were taken up and dis
cusssed during the session. She paid a
touching tribute to the memory ot Pres
ident McKinley, saying that in bis death
"womanhood has sustained an irrepar
able loss, his lire being an example of
equal standard of virtue, his death a
monument to woman's strongest weap
ons, purity of home, law and order."
The advisability of merging tho fed
eration library into that or the state
commission library was discussed at
length and with much warmth on both
sides of the question; and while the club
women felt that they should have bad
at least one of their number on the com
mission, the vote taken showed that the
federation recognized the fact that the
state commission could do more effectual
work and the books were relinquished.
Mrs. II. H. Hellar of Omaba made an
eloquent and earnest plea for kinder
gartens for the colored children ot the
south. Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst institu
ted a kindergarten training school at
Washington, D. C, for the purpose ot
training young colored women for teach
ers for the schools in the south, and
Mrs. Hellar asked that the clubs pro
vide one scholarship. She showed in a
convincing manner that the hope of the
south was in the education of the chil
dren, and asked that each club give an
entertainment, with a small admission
fee, the proceeds to go toward the sup
port of a student in this training Echool.
The delegates voted to bring the matter
before their respective clubs, and report
in six weeks to Mrs. Hellar.
The nominating committee, composed
of the presidents of clubs, was instruct
ed t3 bring two names for each office be
fore the convention to be voted upon,
and the following are the officers for the
ensuing year: President, Mrs. Draper
Smith ot Omaha; vice president, Mrs.
Durland of Norfolk; recording secretary,
Miss McCarn of Fremont; correspond
ing secretary, Mrs. Lobingierot Omaha;
auditor, Mrs. H. M. riushnell of Lin
coln; treasurer. Mrs. Cross of Fairbury;
librarian, Mrs. Stoutenborough of
Plattamouth.
The delegates elected to the next bi
i'l
m-
