Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 14, 1900, Page 6

THE ©OMAHA DALY BEE E. ROSEWATER, Edit Phl!Llfl(F‘.f; EVERY MORNING, TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. Daily Bee (without Sunday), One Year $8.00 Daily Bee and Sunday One Year U Tllustrated B . ‘ Bunday Bee Baturday Hee, One Year Weekly Bee, One Year.... . OFFICES. Omaha: The Bee Bulldin, South Omaha: City Hall ty-fifth and N streets. Council Bluffa: 10 Pear] Street. 1840 Unity Bullding. ork: Temple Court New Yor Temple Court Washington: 61 Fourteenth St Bloux Clty: 611 Park Street CORRESPONDENCE. el Communications relating to news and edi- torial matter should be addresscd: Omaha Bee, Editorial Department BUSINESS LETTERS. Husiness letters and remittances should bo addresscd: The Bee Publishing Com- pany, Omaha. REMITTANCES Remit by draft, express or postal order, ayable to The fes Publishing Company, By Bcent stampn accepted in payment of Personal checks, exc not ac Funaing, Twen- mafl mccounts Omaha or Eastern exchan THE BEE PUBLISHING STATEMENT OF CIRCU EBtate of Nebraski, Douglas County, s.: George I Tzachick, secrotary of The Bee yublishing Company, being duly sworn pays that the mctual number of full and complete coples of The Dully, Morning ening and Sunday Bee printed during the month of November, 1900, was as follow: 16.. 29,850 1. 28,260 18. 28,100 19 28,180 20, 28,470 2 28,410 22 .. 2. 27 D060 27 620 27,740 27,770 27,6605 020,450 . 13,088 28 400 20,200 ..2%.040 28,480 Less unsold and returned coples. Net total wales Net daily average GEO. B. TZSCHUCK presence and sworn to t December. A, D., . B_ HUNGATE, Notary Publie. Subscribed in my before me this Ist da 1900, When preachers disagree laymen must decide for themselves, Don't all rush for the state house ple counter. The distribution will continue for some time yet. A crusade has been started against sa- Toons in Topeka, which I8 another proof that prohibition does not prohibit, Rev. John Willlams has sounded his trumpet once more. The trumpet of Rev, Mr. Williams Is always within easy reach, Electrie tramways would be of great value to our business Interests, but the question 1s, How to get the capital to bulld them? It 1s barely possible the cadets at West Point may have taken undue libertles with Cadet Booz—just because the name has a susplelous sound. It 18 needless to say that the brewers are unanlmous in favor of the fmmedi- ate repeal of the beer war tax without walting for the aid or consent of aily other nation on earth. The Federation of Labor refuses to concur in the demand for a reduction of the tax on beer. The delegates, evl- dently, have no fear that the price of beer will go above 5 cents a glass, what- ever may happen. According to the World-Herald the exposure of the South Omaha election frauds Is causing a great deal of mer- riment among the fusion reformers. But they may find out when the legislature couvenes that they have laughed first, Several Nebraska towns are preparing to put in electric lighting plants. The state has never bgen so prosperous in 1ts history and the people are evidently of the opinion that they can afford to have sowe of the luxuries as they go along. tivé bridegroom has Women de Another prospe disappeared 1n Omaha, sirous of bhaving the ceremony per- formed on schedule time should be careful about allowlng thelr intended swains to come to view the allurements of the city, It is announ way from Louls ed by telegraph all the ille that Mr. Gompers will succeed himself as president of the | Amerlcan Federation of Labor. If that be true, the unexpected will not have happened. Mr. Gompers appears to have a life tenure to that office, One reason why the Nebraska lawyers are all Interested in relleving the su prewme court s that contingent fees have to walt the final adjudication of the case and no lawyer llkes to walt three or four years for returns on his Invest- ment of oratory and sheepskin, Commissioner Kent has considerable to say about his free employment bu- reau. Such an institution might be n good thing In democratic tiwes, but re- publican policies have furnished em ployment for labor without the neces- sity of requisitions on the state com- missloner, Justice Andrews of New York has rendered a judicial opinion that a wo- man should be at home by widnight If the legal luminary will now pass on the question of how late It s adwissible for a man to remain down fowa with an old college chum he will earn the everlasting gratitude of thousands of women, but wmight fail of re-election when the men get a chance at him, — The firon industry s generally con ceded to be the barometer of, frade con- ditlons. Reports from this industry ia dicate that It was never in a more healthy condition. The produetion of pig tron for the month Just pussed shows an increase over the preceding one und the rail mills have contracted for a larger tonuage. than last year, which was exceptionally good, There Is ever) reason to believe that business condl- during the coming year will be better than the last one, ) PRELIMINARY TERMS AGREED T0. The pow it s announced, have come to an agreement as to the terms upon which they will negotiate with China for a final settlement. The State department at Washington has been ad vised by the Ameriean minister at Pekin of a suggested amendment by the Brit- Ish government, but this Is understood to be a mere change in form, which does not alter the scope of the agreement at any material polnt. That portion of the statement of terms which relates to the infliction of the death penalty on tain ringleaders of the anti-foreign uprising Is very likely erroneous, since our government took Issue with England and Germany on this demand and it was the understand- ing that the view of the United States had prevailed. At any rate it may be assumed as certaln that our govern- ment would not, after taking the posi- tion it did respecting this demand, with the approval of the country, concur in it. There are one or two other features of the reported terms which this gov- ernment had accepted with certain re ervations, made necessary by the liml tations of executive authorlty, but agreement on these polnts Is perhaps not absolutely necessary to the begin- ning of negotiations, It will undoubt. edly be found, therefore, that the terms which were stated to the nearly o month ago by the German im- perlal chancellor are in some very im it respects different from those ers are said to have agreed to, The agreement on terms should be fol lowed very soon by the beginning of negotiations. The next step will be the ipotentiaries of the agreement arrived to consider the conditions laid down by the powers. general opinfon that while some modi- fication of the terms may be asked by the representatives of the Chinese gov- ernment, they will offer no decided op- position to them. The disposition thus far manifested by the imperial authori- ties is altogether conciliatory. want peace and are anxlous to arrive at a fair and honorable settlement. There appears to be no doubt that they are prepared to do whatever I8 just, asking in return only that the powers will deal honorably and justly with China. Of this there is ample assur- cerned and the good Influence which this government has exerted In the watter of preliminary terms will un- doubtedly continue to be felt in the ne- gotiations for a final settlement, The United States may confidently be ex- pected to disapprove any proposition or plan which might menace, however re- motely, the territorial Integrity of the Chinese emplire, or any scheme looking to the overthrow of the reigning dynasty. We shall demand the pun- ishment, “within the rational limits of retributive justice,” of those responsible for outrages, adequate indemnity and ample guaranties for peace and se- curity In the future, but we shall counte- nance no schemes, wherever originating, for the spoliation or the dismember- ment of China, THE TAX ON BEER. We think there will be very general concurrence In the view of the chairman of the house committee on ways and means that the beer tax should never be wiped out until every other vestige of the war taxes is removed. He point.d out that the democratic proposition, un- doubtedly made for political effect, that the entire additional tax on beer be abolished, would reduce the revenues of the government to the extent of $23,- 000,000 and would produce the grossest injustice. “What argument is there,” sald Chalrman Payne, “in favor of re- ducing the tax on beer which does not apply with as great force to the reduc- tion of the entire additional tax on to- bacco, amounting to $18,000,000, or the tax on bankers and brokers, amounting to nearly $4,000,000, and the remaining taxes amounting to $15,000,0007" Why should the goverument relin- quish one-fifth of its income under the war revenue act when the general pub- lic would not be benetited? The beer tax does not fall upon those who use the beverage, and the consumer would get no advantage from its abolition. Perhaps the retailer would get some benefit, but the principal gain would go to the brewers and it 1s they who are urging that the additional tax be abol- tshed. ‘There Is no popular demand for 1t. The consuwers of beer, so far as we are aware, are not asking it. The brewing interest of the country 1s entitled to fair consideration, but in urging congress to cut off §23,000,000 of revenue in behalf of that interest, under existing conditions, it Is asking too much, AN INFALLIBLE KEMEDY. A well-meaning but somewhat impr tleable clergyman, whose sympathles have been aroused by the hypocritical vaporings of a ) ulleged misery caused by the offensive gurbage contract, has projected a schome that will compel the garbage contractor to release his grip. This scheme involves nothing more nor less than an order from the mayor and councll and sani- tary boards compelling the gurbage con- tractor to clean the streets, alleys and | buck yards, covering every foot of | ground within the ity lmits, within ten days, and to respond to the call of every householder, for the removal of garbage, within forty-elght hours, at the risk of having his contruct forfelted. This Iy a very excellent plan, but it | would Involve an appeal to the courts and a decree forfeiting the contract be- fore It could be executed, which would wean a delay for a longer perlod, per hups, than the term of the unexpired sontract, A speedier and more certaln remedy | would be to require a jury of twely men, each man averaging not less than 200 pounds, to sit upon the body of Gar | bage Contractor Macdonald, pronounce | him guilty, suspend him by the neck from a telegraph pole for not less than one hoyr, take him down and pour a Relchstag | the plenipotentiaries of the pow- | formal presentation to the Chinese plen- | at, who will be given a reasonable time | It appears to be the | They | ance so fur as the United States Is con- | dlow Journal about the | THE OMAHA DAILY quart of prussic acid down his throat, following this treatment by placiog the body in a barrel filled with spikes, to be rolled down Dodge etreet hill; then sos the remains in quicklime and send the bones to competent osteopathists, who will make a report and submit the ex nhibit to a coroner's jury, which will find that he came to his death as a resuit of his own suicidal course; finally, serve official notice upon the mayor and coun cll that the garbage contractor has abandoned his contract and will not again resume it. This remedy, it is belleved, would prove more effectual than any attempt to compel Macdonald to relinquish the contract by ordering him to do things which are physically impossible. NOT AGAINST IMMIGRATION. The convention of the Amerlean Fed eration of Labor, at {ts session on Wednesday, rejected a resolution in structing the executive council to pr pare and endenvor to seeure the passage of a bill in congress for restricting im migration. This action on the part of the representatives of organized labor | 18 noteworthy and 1s commended to the attention of those who are coustantly | agitating for the further restriction of Immigration. It evidences the fact that the skilled labor represented in the federation does not fear that its inter- ests and welfare will be Jeopardized by the workers who come here from abroad, the most of whom sooner or later join the labor organizations. Un- doubtedly a-large percentage of the mewbers of the federation came here | from forelgn lands. | During the last three years not much has been heard of the anti-immigration | agitation, due to the fact that the de- Jmand for labor has most of that time been In excess of the supply, and as the outlook s favorable to a continued good demand for several years to come the agitation is not likely to be soon | renewed. It will be heard again, how- ever, as soon as a change In industrial | conditions comes. Meanwhile immigra- tion is not heavy as compared with that | of some years ago. That of last year | showed an increase over the preceding year and was considerably larger thun |1 the period of Industrial depression, but it was readily absorbed. FProbably more people will come to the United States from Europe this year than last, but there is no reason to apprebend that this labor will work any injury to | that already bhere. The action of the convention of the American Federation of Labor was judiclous and commend- able. If the incoming legislature should ap- propriate all the money the retiring state officinls ask for what a howl about ex- travagance would go up from the popo- crat camps when auother election rolled around. The fact that these recow- mendations were made when the of- ficlals confidently expected to be re- turned to power or be succeeded by members of their own party only goes to show they were perfectly willlng to load down the state treasury. For- tunately a republican legislature will make the appropriations and repub- lican ofticials will control the expendi- ture of the money. Ohlo Is just now competing for the championship in the robbery and holdup line. The Ohio men appear to have tmproved upon the wildest style of work- ing the trick of touching up the banks, but what is needed is the fmportation of a few men llke the Coffeyville (Kan.) liveryman who lald out the Dalton gang, or the Goodland sheriff, who dis- posed of Ahe train robbers. Ohio fs wel- come to the glory of having the cham- plon holdups, but if It desires an ef- fective antidote it might send out west for it. American officers serving under Gen- eral Chaffee u China are forbidden by him to recelve any compensation for serving on the buards provided for the temporary goverument of the territory occupled other than their regular army pay. The army regulations also forbid it. This may appear a lttle hard when these officers see those of other nations fattening on salaries which the Chinese are forced to put up, but they can have the satisfaction of knowing that thelr course meets with approval at home, If Governor Plngree of Michigan fails to accomplish his object it will not be { because he lacks in persistence, He has called the legislature of that state In speclal session for the third time in two years to act on measures regard- ing the taxation of rallronds. If the present plan does not win he might try glving a continuous performance. Everybody in Omaha would like to see more strect cleaning, more street pav- ing, more fmprovements of every de- scription. But few people in Omaha who are taxpayers are willing to have their | taxes increased. It tukes a good deal of |money to do the th.ngs that people wou.d like to have done. Reawakening the Anclents, Now York Tribune, The shah of Persia has been traveling through his dominions upon an automobile, | The abkooud of Swat is “next,” and then it will be up to the grand llama of Thibet. One Reawon Overlooked, Buffalo Express. Four years ago there was $7,000,000 back taxes carried on the books of the state of Nebraska. Now there is but $3,000,000. There is a hint of the reason why Nebraska went republican that Mr. Bryan overlooked. Take the Middle Path, Indlanapolis Journal | Bishop Potter says the greatest evil | the time 1s the greed for gain. Mr. Russell | Sage says the greatest evil of the time is the lack of thrift. To save is a virtue, says | Mr. Sage. Now, it is obvious that in or- | der to save it 1s necessary first to gain, so what 18 & poor man to do in the face of such conflicting advice? Specinl Coln for Amigos, Portland Oregonian, The United States will coin trade dol- lars for the Filipinos, because those wary | people refuse to accept our standara coins. And yet our dollars contain 100 cents, bear the stamp of the United States, and sre taced With the touchstone eagle. Here BEE: FRIDAY, DE( "EMBER 14 Is Democracy Daft? New York World Unloss the democratic party is hopelessly daft or is reconciled to death Mr. Rryan has written himself out of its leadorship. Over his signature he declares that ‘“‘the democratic part must be consistent”—even, apparently, to the point of repeating s suicide for the third time. “Defeat,” he ares, “does not make it necessary for us to abandon anything for which we have fought"'—not even 16 to 1 The reasoning by which Mr. Bryan at- tempts to sustain thts hopeless bourbonism is transparently sophlstical. Because the democrats were beaten, he says, ‘‘must we now indorse imperfalism’” and abate our opposition to a large standing army, to trusts, to a monopoly-fostering tarift? "It would,"” he argues, ‘‘be just as reason- able to insist that the democratic party should accept the republican position on these questions as to say that it must accept the republican position on the gold question.” To begin with, the so-called republican position on the gold question Is precicely that occupled by the democrats from the time of Jefferson and Jackson and Benton to that of Tilden and Cleveland. But the hope- lessness of Mr. Bryan's state of mind s his apparent inability to recognize, or at (dem.) least to admit, the difference between liv- ing questions and a dead question Every other iesue that he mentions is vital-but upon none of them were the people permitted a square vote, because Mr. Bryan, with fatal fatulty, interjected the money scare into the campaiga. Not 18 it as though this year's way the first ver- dict of the people upon the silver question Tho advocates of 16 to 1 who were beaten in the democratic national convention in 1802 Joined hands with the popullsts and froe silver republicans tho very next year and the fusion and the folly waxed stronger and fiercer each year until the climax of Nysteria and lunacy in the Chicago conven- tion of 1896 In seven successive elections the demo- cratic party has been beaten on this com pound of ignorance and dishonisty, each time more disastrously than the last, until now—after the completest Waterloo, when its candidate recelved only tbirteen elec- toral_votes outside the oid solid south— Mr. Bryan bobs up with the serenely sa- plent remark that “the democratic party must be consistent!"" This is simply stark folly, of the kind that no amount of “braylng In a mortar” will ellmate trom its possessor. And we think the democratic party has had enough of It Is a lesson for Bryanites and Coln Harveys worth ninety-nine full treatises on flat and 16 to 1. Riches Not in Dollars. Loulsville Courlor-Journal, The greater part of the estato left by | Senator Davis was his library ot 8,000 volumes. It some of our public men had accumulated more books and fewer dol lars they would be the richer in the public estimation. Keeping His nd In, Pittsburg Dispatch Vice President-elect Roosevelt's trip to Colorado to shoot mountain llons may be tame compared with his recent trip to chase the feroctous Bryanite from his lair, but it 18 the most strenuous thing avallable at present. he Bluft Orienta Indlanapolls Journa! The sultan of Turkey may forget to pay his debts, but he never forgets to be suave and polite to his creditors. His en- tertainment of the officers of the battle- ship Kentucky at dinner was a fine picce of Orfental bluff. Graveyard of Millions. Minneapolis Journal, The Panama people state calmly that their canal is half built already and they intend to go right on and finish it regard- less of what the United States does. Any person with a couple of hundred million dollars loose will find a nice hole for it in Panama. HOOLIGANS OF LONDON. Some Facts About the Genns Hoodlmin of the HBritish Capital. Frequent mention s made in London dis- patches of the operations of gangs of rufans nicknamed ~hooligans,” and the terrorfsm they have Inspired fn various sec- ticns of the city. “‘Hooligan” s the equivalent of “hoodlum’* in America, but tho American hoodlum never approaches in number and “‘toughness” the professional rufffan of London, A correspondent of the Springfield Republican thus sketches him in his native heath: “The holligan, ns he has now come to be defined, is not gimply a young ruffian. He 1s not a professlonal bad man, he is mot even a loafer, and after he has reached the ago of 22 or 23 At mot unfrequently hap- pens that he foins the army and becomnes a first-rate soldier or settles down into a moderately sober workman, who has lived 0 rapidly between 15 and 20 that he is middle-uged at 25, His most distinctive feature is that he belongs to a gang with | leadquarters in some beer dive. He earns money enough to buy his skare of tho drinks, to pay his sharo of the fines of mem- bers of the gang who get arrested, and usually to have a girl. He lives, after a fashion, with his parents. He rarely smokes a pipe like his more law-ablding brethren, but nearly always has a cigarette in his mouth, His costume has distinctive teatures, the muffler and cap, a leather belt in lleu of braces and trousers tight at the | knee and broad at the ankle. He dearly lcves & good fight, and goes up a step in the scale of his soclety when ho has served a turn in prison. He prowls about at night in companies of four or five, looking for & scrap with rival gangs, for women that he can frighten or perhaps molest or for lonely wayfarers whom he can torment and per- haps rob. Such attacks have grown in frequency of late, and have added to the general alarni, “‘Probably there 1 no class of men in Lon- don thrown more closely in touch with the lower classes than the churchmen of the slum districts, and perhaps none of them knows poverty in its bitterest phases bet- ter than the Rey. W. H. Davies, at first curate and slum worker and now rector and slum worker of the church in Spital- flelds, where 23,000 people are crowded upon a district of seventy acres, and beside which Whitechapel has been described as a paradise and Drury Lane as a fashionable resort. Here it was that Jack the Ripper plied his bloody trade. ‘I know the so- called Hooligan,' sald Mr. Davies to the writer, ‘although we do not breed him here. The lives led by the wretched chil- dren that you see swarming in our streets result in & different type. These children, dragged around by their drunken parents, ltving on crusts, sleeping in hallways or in the strects, familtar at 5 or 6 years with more viclousness than most men attain at 30, develop Into the shifty thief, the fly-by- night burg'ar; morose, self-contained, work- in the dark. They don't brawl, or ‘whoop it up;' they don't molest women or go about In gangs. 1t they rifle n house or | kill a man they do it without ostentation “The hooligan, on the other hand, is not an idler, as everybody seems fo suppose, and he doesn’t come from the bitter slum lstricts, He {8 the boy or young fellow who works in the factory and who ‘lets oft steam’ after hours. His family 1s poor, but they do not live In a slum. Westminster, Hexton, Bethnal Green and Clerkenwell, practically respectable quarters, are the broeding places of the hooligan. His belng what he is is due to the flaws in the social condition of his kith and kin, the absence of family life, the indifference of parents. I don't speak as a bigoted par- son, but 1 cag say that, in working for re- liglous ends among such people, we can got the parents to take no fnterest in their children's welfare.' “The hooligan is the germ of as lively a | rlot as any modern city has seen. He ha far more stamina than his French con-| frere, who has turned Parls upside down | occastonally, and once he gets a-golug it will not be so easy to stop him. Hereto- fore his healthy fear of the sturdy Lon- don policeman has kept him in check. But | that fear has been diminished by a series | of extraordinary manifestations of human nature over eplsodes of the war. The cable reported at the time that stald old London | ‘had gone mad' and was ‘holding carni- val' over varfous victories. “What really | happened was a quickly subsiding outburst | of patriotism, followed by a festival for the hooligan. In the general joy the honds of propriety were relaxed a little, and the hooligan took advantage of the opportunity | to let himself out correspondingly without belng trowned upon by bobby. | The clerks Buffalo Express: General Chaffee has Incurred the wrath of Count von Walder- #ee in & good cause if he has angered the German commander by protesting against the looting of the Pekin observatory Chicago Post: Chaffee mav have allowed a little too much vigorous United States to creep Into that letter to Waldersee, but it was scarcely too strong for the occasion It was not the American gencral's language but his indiscreet truthfulness that riled the German fleld marshal Minneapolls — Tribune: Our General Chaffee in China jarred the sensibilities of the German commander, Count von Waldersce, the other day, by suggesting that the looting by the allled troops should stop, and although Chaffee afterwards made amends for the undiplomatic character of his language, it Is noticeable that the loot- ing has stopped. Since that little exchange between Admirals Dewey and Dietrich in Manila harbor what an American officer abroad says generally goes New York Mail and Express: Above all, General Chaffee, the American commander in China, is a soldler, and his hearty con- tempt for the thefts committed by forelgn troops under the orders or with the per- mission of Waldersee is such as a true soldier ought to feel. It is a pity that an officer of his traditions and instincts could not have been chosen to direct the inter- national army of occupation, instead of a representative of a body of European off- cers whose most obvious military char- acteristic, as thus for demonstrated, seems to be an abnormally keen scent for loot; there would them have been less to regret In the “holy crusade” preached by the kaiser. It may be hoped that Walder- complaisant while the French and Germans were removing the Jesult astro- nomical instruments from the Pekin city wall, but indignant when Chaffee protested to him against the outrage, does not - lustrate the distinctive ideals of honor fostered by a century of militarlsm among the continental officers. PERSONAL NOTES. It Mr. Dooley and the czar both escape the fell destroyer, the world will have rea- #on to congratulate itself on saving two important contributors to its light and galety. The late Dr. Thomas Arnold of Dublin was about the last survivor of the ns- soclates of Cardinal Newman in the en- deavor to found in that city an Irish Catholic university. Ex-Congressman Jerry Simpson has sold his ranch in Barber county, Kansas, and will buy one in the far west. Barber county was becoming too crowded for him. Next year he will travel for a Kansas City commission house, in which he 1s In- terested. Pope Leo XIII 1s one of the most npurlnx! eaters among living men. A biscult steeped | in black coffee usually serves for his breakfast, a little soup and a lttle chicken and fruit for his dinner and the remnants from this meal are generally converted futs his supper. The German emperor recently presented Baron Beck, chief of the staff of the Aus- tricn army, with a marble bust of him- self. The bust Is on a large scale and welghs 1,800 pounds. Baron Beck 1s having his house thoroughly overhauled by mili- tary engineers to test If there Is any spot in it capable of bearing a welght so enormous. A Cape Town correspondent bas inter- viewed Mrs. Dewet, wife of the Boer gen- eral. Bhe sald: “You Englishmen will never catch my husband. He ls golng to win back for the Free Staters and Trans- vamlers what they have lost. He has enough food end ammunition to last for three years, and that is just how long the war 18 golng to lasi London Truth has called attention to a prejudice in the British army which seems s lacking In sense ms anything can be. It appears that, however, near-sighted an officer may be, he will not wear spectacles. One officer, for example, mistook a herd of cattle not over half a mile away for a troop of cavalry. Needless to say no such conven‘ion obtains among the Boers. Gen eral Dewet, according to Conan Doyle, goes around in blue goggles. An old legal paper has been unearthed in the prothomotary's office in Wilkesbarre, Pa. It was an afdavit of defense pre- pared by the late Jay Gould, In his hand- writing, and bears date of 1885. Gould wa then in the tanning business at Gouldsboro, this state, and he had difficulty with his creditors. In his defense he claimed he had built the largest tannery in the world, and instead of being hounded by his credi- tors he thought he should receive en- couragement for developing the resourcos of the country. ERAL FAME, Solomon’s Exclamation Horne Out in It 1s only six yoars since Hon, William . Vilas retired from the United States senate | to resume the practice of his profession at | Madison, yet this comparatively short period | of time has sufficled to place him in the category of unknowns in the Washington postoffice. Such s the significance of an | advertised letter fu the 1ist at the Wash- irgton postoMce, addressed to W, F. Vilas In the Washington postofiice evidently do not burden their minds with the names of former prominent men. A Washington correspondent tells the story of the Vilas letter as follows “'A singular commentary on the Washing- ton postoffice appears in the list of ad- vertised letters published today. By this list it seems that there 1s a letter in the office for one Willlam F. Vilas, whose \dentity and whereabouts are unknown to the office. A few years ago Mr. Vilas was postmaster general. His word was law in the making of many thousands of post- masters, besides promulgating a ceriain political doctrine as to ‘offensive parti- sanship’ he instituted many improvements and reforms In the service. 8o well aid he o his duty that when Mr. Lamar, the sec- retary of the interior, was made agiustice !4 the supreme court, Mr. Vilas was trans ferred to the Interior department, whose importance in the matter of administrative control of Indian, land and patent business innlh-l for a good lawyer and capable execu tive talent Mr. Vilas was not forgotten when the first Cleveland administration went out, for his state, Wisconsin, sent | him to the senate, where he distinguished | himself as an orator and statesman. Yet, In what is generally regarded as the model postofiice of the country, supplied with the | best postal accessories, system and expert talent, the name of Mr. Vilas goes fnto the | advertised letter list. This often urs | With the name of George Washington, as it might with that of Willlam Smith, for | there are many Washingtons and not a few Smiths. But for the singular and promi- | ment name of Vilas it argues the existence of something that Postmaster General Smith should give attention to If he does not wish to have his own name bulletined in the advertised list of the unknown and undefinable. Mr, Vilas is practicing law at Madison, Wis." The scarcity of democrats in the Wash- ington postoffice may have something to do with the case of Mr. Vilas, yet one would think that even republican clerks woula | remember the name of a former postmaster general. The oblivion into which the former leaders of the democracy have been driven | by Bryanism fs well illustrated by this in. |eldent. 1t may be necessary to equip the | people more generally with the “Who's Who'' books if our ex-statesmen are to stand any chance of being identified in future, @ececcccsccsccscscscccscscccld § THIRD OF A CENTURY RECORD Eagle Beacon The candidacy of Hon. Edward Rosewater for United States sena- tor Is meeting with a gre deal of encouragement thronghout the state. Mr. Rosewater has stood up for the republican party in Ne- braska for almost a third of a century and has never asked for political preferment of so high a character. The Influence of Mr. Rosewater aud The Omaha Bee has been felt In many a cmmpaign, as well as In the one just closed When you stop to consider all these matters carefully you are at once convinced that Mr. Rosewater has done a great deal for the purty and has never been rewarded. All the other eandidates north of the river, not a single one of them but what has held office at differ- ent times, The Nebraska press which assisted greatly in the late campaign, will feel that its work is recoguized If Mr. Rosewater is elected, Vote Subjected to Analy: Philadelphia Press, The vote in the central west is one of the most Interesting and encouraging of the results of the recent presidential campalgn. The seven states comprising this reglon are Ohlo, Indiana, Illinols, Michigan, Wiscon- &in, Towa and Minnesota. For many years theso were known as the western states and the two last were placed later among the northwestern states. But the develop- ment of the reglon between the Missourl river and the Rocky mountains and the need of applylng the term western to the states included in it has compelled a new designation of the states in the northern half of the Mississippl river and Ohio river valleys. They are mnow appropriately known as the central west, This great reglon is an empire In itself, having an area of 338,405 square miles and & population of 19,987,203, It has ninety- six representatives in congress and Its growth In population during the last decade will entitle It to an increased representa- tion under the mew apporifonment. The attitude of so {mportant a section of the untry on the questions submitted to the people November 6 must be of natlonal interest. The vote cast by the republicans and democrats in each of the states com- posing this reglon, both in 1900 and 1898 1n given in the following table, the vote of Michigan alone being estimated: 1900 ———1896, Dem. Rep. [% 607,130 S00584 23,754 9265 289,292 200,000 208542 11814 193,501 ) 626,991 169 208,13 Totals .2, S1L 2,501,585 2,018,803 An analysis of the table shows that the eum of the votes cast by the republican and democratic parties in the central west in 1896 was 4,614,688, and that the sum of the vote cast by the same Lwo parties in 1500 was 4,670,668, an Increase of 06,000, a comparatively small increase considering the growth In population in four years. In 1896 the democrats polled 2,013,303 votes and lu 1900 they polled 1,996,511, a loss of 16492 votes. The republicans polled In the same reglon four years ago 2,601,385 votes and this year 2,673,877, an Increase of 72492 votes. The republicans increased thelr vote In Indlana, Towa, Michigan and Ohto and lost slightly in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The democrats increased thelr vote considerably in Illinols and slightly in Indlana and decreased their vote in lowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohlo and Wiscousin, The plurality of McKiuley de- creased 1n Tilinols, but increased in each of the #ix other states. The total repub- lican plurality in these seven states was four years ago, 488,082 This year it it 5717, 066, an Increase of 88,984, The fact that this great central region of the country, containing more than one- fourth of the population and casting nearly one-third of the vote polled last month, is solldly for an honest currency and agalnst tho demagogical theorics known as Bryan- 1sm 18 one of the most encouraging results of the recent election. In 1875 this reglon was permeated by “soft money” ideas and it was only by the most strenuous efforts that it was prevented from golng for an unlimited paper currency, but In two suc- cessive national elections now it has been solid for sound money, gIving In each clection from two-thirds to three-fourths the total popular mafority McKinley has obtained In the whole country. This fs a significant evidence of the advance the people of the central west have made during tho last quarter of a century and of how well adapted that reglon has become to act as the political balance wheel of the country, Iltnots ... Indiana ... Iowa ....... Michigan " Minnesota. (P Wisconsin.. FOR Commendah! Efforts of the Govern- ment in that Direction, Kansas City Star. The United States geological which 1s investigating the country, finds that 37 per cent of the land Is wooded. In the various states the percentages vary from 1 in South Dakota, to 7 in Kansas. to 18 {n Illinols, to 22 In California, to 40 to 80 along the Atlantic border and to 71 in Washing- ton. The vast amount of timber in the United States made people careless about taking measures for its preservation, and it 1s generally ugreed that if things had been allowed to go on in their natural course a timber famine would have resulted In two or three generatlons. For several years past the government has been laboring to survey forests of the avert such an outcome, aud further steps In this direction are now agitated, A great scarcity of timber would be almost as unfortunate in its effect on the I“-”"" SUpply as on the jndustries which | use lumber. Humboldt's warning s still true: “In felling trees growing on the sides and summits of mountaine, men under all climates prepare for subsequent generations two calamities at once—a lack of firewood and a lack of water.” The freshet that caused the Johnstown flood in 1599 was attributed in part to the cutting of timber from the Mill creek watershed The Johnstown Water company has had the region examined by the division of forestry and the experts have recom mended that bare land be planted with trees and that the whole district be care fully guarded from fire. Such measures taken thirty years ago might have saved the lives lost at Johnstown, as well as the ten million dollars’ worth of property stroyed. In addition to the prevention of floods, the policy of fostering forosts s necessary for irrigation and for developing water power The government's efforts to protect tim- er by its system of forest reserves are familiar to westerners. Wooded areas of 70,000 acres have already been set asido on the Pacific coast and In the other weat- ern and northern states. It is now pro- posed to extend the system. Reservations are wanted in northern Minnesota at the headwaters of the Mississippi, and fn western North Carolina among the Ap- palachian mountains. Advocates of & Min- nesota park of 600,000 acres of land think that it fs essential to Mississippl naviga- tion. The Appalachian reservation would be of value in preserving the head waters of important southern rivers. Both parks could be used as game preserves and as profitable timber land. It conditions are favorable the attentlon of congress will probably be called to at least one of the proposed plans during the present session, but one thing that congress is not likely to do 18 to remove the tariff from lumber, which would do more to preserve the forests in this country than anything else. MAKES EXTRADITION EASIER United States and Great Britain Remedy Troublesome Imperfec- on of Former Treaty. WASHINGTON, Dec. 13.—~A treaty has been concluded between the United States and Great Britain amendatory of the ex- isting extradition treaty aud intended to correct certaln imperfections fn that in- strument developed by recent experience. The changes do not materially aftect the scope or principles of the existing treaty, the chief item In the list being a proviston classifying as a crime subject to extradi- tion the obtaining of money under false pretenses. At present the treaty makes extraditable the reception of money ob- tained under false pretenses, and to remedy the omission of the principal in the crime, constituting a manifest absurdity, the amendn.ent i3 made. @ecescccccccscsscccsccccceel ‘ { POPULARITY OF THE BEE WYMORE, Neb, Dec. 10.~To the Editor of The Be I am so taken with your Illustrated Bee that 1 must express my interest in and admiration for the general features which are making it so popular, For years 1 have learned more about forelgn countrjes from Mr. Carpenter's letters than any other source, and I emphasige especiplly his unequaled, exhaustive and popular letters about the Philip- pines, and now about China. His lust letter about China’s new open- ing for American corn products wlill, I think, prove to be all gold to our commerclal men, and will not only relieve us of a surplus, but must materially help to ad vance prices here and open a new market for our growing product Truly yours, RE . J. R, HOAG L N POINTED REMARKS, Detrolt Journal: hitewash China at this time would be to degrade diplomacy to the level of mere ceramics, Syracuse Heral have a secret Falr Grace—Well, 1 did have one, but it wouldn't keep. Falr Helen—I hear you Indianapolis Journal: “‘We down on our Indian vaudevill “What for?" vone of ihe redmen got absent-mindcd and wcalped the man who beat the bass drum." ad to shut Pittsburg Chronicle: It grows cold,”” re- marked the Observant Boarder; 1 wonder when we shall have snow for slelgh/ng. “Perhaps,” added the Cross-Eyed Boarder, “it will be a winter of sleighless Anow Detroit Free Press a yery “You must have had serlous quarrel with your husband!" v do you think s hat's sich a very handsome sealskin sacque he gave you.' Boston ‘Transeript: ¢ finally got up couruge (o usk Miss Felton to have you? And did she say no? Dumlelgh—No, she didn't g0 so far as that. Sho merely sald the ldea was absurd, Washington Star: *“He {8 not a man of very polished diction,'” sald the member of kress. “But he has some Very pro- nounced us, " Y1 am e answered the colleague, most invariably mispron nton—~And 8o you Chicago Tribune: With a sharp exclama- tlon the A or jumped out of the way of the coach and four that came ratilng around the corner. ‘T'd lke to have the privilege of tylng that four-in-hand!" he muttered, savagely. ¢ . JukKeated the professor, (rylng alongside of him, Press: “What are you about?”" demanded His Satanio We've got lots of people here #00d a8 you, who are perfectlly Philadelphin grumbling ajonty. quite satisfle i its m very eminent that 1 can't Interesting place,” replied the plorer, “but what jars me i §0 back and lecture about it TWO POINTS OF VIEW, Grace W. Curran In Little Folks. L—THE CHILD'S, nds upon the corner whenever I go by And 1ooks right stralght at me just ae it on d.done some wrong ' Oh, I'm very much afrald, altho can't tell why Misausy § Once when I was playlug all alone beneath a tree He came 8o close to me that I couldn't help but ery When I'm a grown-up man it he looks that Wiy at Il walk clo reason why, IL—THE POLICEMAN'S I like to watch the children who come here every day They 100k up sldewnys at me, then quickly hurry by, And when I come close to th stop their play . They seem to be afrald, although I can't tell why up to him and I'll ask the m they alwiys Onee 1 saw @ little boy alone beneath a tree, But when I came to him he at once began to cr 1 feared t Bew Oh, they should not be afraid, for there's Lo reason whyl hit he was lost, ana only went to i