Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 6, 1902, Page 6

THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: MONDAY THE OMAHA DAILY BEE. WATER, EDITOR. ING. B. ROS P PUBLISHED TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION, fly Hee (without Bunday), One aily Bee and Sunday, One Y llustrated Bee, One Year unday Hee, One Year.. aturaay Bee, One Year Ssvigaive wentieth Century Farmer, One Yea DELIVERED BY CARRIER Daily Bee (without Bunday), per copy Bnu) Bee (without Sunday),per week aily Bee (ncluding Sunday), per we EVERY MORS unday Bee, per copy venlig Bee (without Sunday), vening Bec (ncluding Sunday) < Complaints of irreguiarities deiivery #hould be addressed to City Circulation De- partment er week. 10 per OFFICES. Omaha~The Hee Bullding, South Omaha—City Hall Building, Twen- fy-niftn and M Streets inell Blufts—10 Pearl Street. fcago—1680 Unity Bullding. New York-Temple Court, Washington—%1 Fourteenth Street. CORRESPONDENCE Communications relating to news and edi- torial matter should be addressed: Omaha Bee, Editorlal Department LETTERS. nd remittances should be tee Publishing Lompany, Omuhi REMITTANCES. aft, express or postal order, Publishing Company d in payment of hecks, Remit by -cent BtamMps ac mall accounts. Persona ©Omaha or eastern exchanges, not accepted, THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPAN BTATEMENT OF CIRCULATION. Btate of Nebraska, Douglas County, e George 13, Tzschuck, secretary of The Bee Publishing Company, being duly sworn, ®ays that the actual number of full and complets coples of The Dally, Mornink, fivening and. Bunday Ie inted during the month of December, 101, was as fol- 1. 30,000 18 19 2. 21 Total Less unsold and returned copls Net total sales 033,167 Net dally average . 80,101 GEO. B. TZSCHUCK Bubscribed fn my presence and sworn to before me this il J y of December, A, D. 901, M HUNGATE, (Heal.) Notary Publie. e ———— Now for the opening of the Towa legislature EEg—— By the way, has anyone heard any- thing recently of Prof. Coin's once famous tinancial school? The red button is still a source of bitter contention in the ranks of the Central Labor union, notwithstanding the fact that the men who wear them lay no clalm to be Chinese mandarins, B, Governor Savage will find interesting if not entertaining reading in the vig orous expression of the republican state press denouncing as an unmiti- gated outrage his unconditional par- don of Bartle; AEE—— We may all feel sure that as acting governor Senator Steele will safely guide the ship of state, whether Gover- nor Savage curtalls or prolongs his vol- untary exile from Nebraska smong the cane-brakes of Louisiana. — The new year is setting altogether too brisk a pace with railroad wrecks and steamship collisions, Its ambition, to eclipse the record of its predecessor in this direction so early In the season should be more vigorously repressed, The councilmen who have gone east 4o inspect market houses will find an Aabundance of material for future refer- ence, but in due time they may also discover that you cannot build a market house unless you have the money to build it with. Senator Platt's threatened libel suit against Editor Willlam Allen White has not yet waterialized. The seasoned and experlenced senator has doubtless come to the conclusion that this is an- other occasion where discretion is the better part of valor. SEE——— In Omaha Superintendent Pearse is pstentatiously anti-machine. In the con- wentlon of the State Teachers' associa- tion at Lincoln Superintendent Pearse 18 the wachine. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not in it with Omaha's versatile school superintendent, The war for the base ball franchise for Omaha for next year Is simply a case of freeze out, although from the amount of noise the contending factors are making the public would lmagine the prize was to go to the side that does the most hollolng. *Dealers try to explain the raise in the price of coal on the theory of general prosperity that has precipitated a short- age of supply through inadequate trans- portation facilities, The prevailing prosperity has to carry a pretty big load as a scapegoat for all sorts of public grievances. U Colonel Bryan will commemorate the feast of Andrew Jackson in what he once denominated the enemy's country. the refusal of the Muassachusetts dem- ocratle state committee to co-operate in the reception planned for the former standard bearer of the party Is unbe- comiug when Mr. Bryan goes so far as to extend the hand of peace Constantine J. Smyth should not lose slght of the fact that there is a tide in- the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune. 1If he wants to strike it rich and even up with the Standard Oil trust the oppor- tunity is at hand. All he need do is to join Judge Baxter's Development com- pany, which is about to bore for oil in the vicinity of Omaha. If the pros- pector's hopes are realized Mr. Smyth will be able to force the Standard Ofl A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT. The power to extend executive clem- ency to persons convicted of crime s vested by the constitution of Nebraska in the governor, subject, however, to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons, The manifest intent of the conetitution s that the legislative pro- visions as to the manner of applying for pardons must be followed in all cases, The law governing the exercise of the pardoning power reads as fol- lows: The governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutation and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses except treason, and to remit fines and forfelture upon such conditions, and with such restrictions and limitations as he way thiak proper, subject to the regulations prescribed in this chapter. But no pardon shall be granted until after notice shall have first been given for two woeks of such application for a pardon, by publishing the sald notice in a newspaper printed in the county where the conviction was had, which notice shal] state name of the applicant, the offense of which he was convicted, in what court, and when con- victed, and the time when the application will be made, and In case no newspaper is published in such county, then the sald notice may be given by pesting the same at the court house door of sald county, two weeks before such application; provided, however, that when any person s conflned in the state penitentiary the governer shall have power to pardon such person on ace count ot good conduct, for the purpose of restoring him to civil rights, not more than ten days before the expiration of his term of imprisonment, without the notice pro- vided for iIn this section. The pardon of Joseph 8. Bartley In open disregard of the law establishes a dangerous precedent, The pardon was surreptitiously granted without publi- cation of the required notice and with- out any public hearing that would af- ford an opportunity for remonstrance or protest. Mr. Bartley had employed for his defense most capable criminal lawyers and they certainly understood the con- ditions precedent to a legally granted pardon. They knew that the law re- quired a petition and a hearing upon it and they acted accordingly. They put themselves to a great deal of trouble and expense to secure names to the pardon petition and held themselves ready to file it and go through the forms of a hearing whenever they could get assurances from the governor that he would issue the pardon. That was their intention when they appealed to Gov- ernor Poynter and again when they ap- pealed to Governor Dietrich. The idea that Bartle sentence could be com- muted for the entire unexpired period of his sentence without notice or hear- ing and then be restored to full clvil rights by a pardon for the few days time not included in the commutation had not been evolved. The recognized prineiple of law 1s that an officer can not do indirectly what he 1s prohibited from dolng directly. If the sixteen years Bartley was yet to serve could be wiped out by commuta- tion without compliance with the plain provisions of the law relating to par- dons, every other convict In the pen- itentiary could have all the benefits of a full pardon by the commutation route without petition, without publicity and without a hearing. As chlef executive of the state it is the sworn duty of the governor to obey, uphold and enforce the laws and not to violate them or subvert them. COMPULSORY ARBITRATION IN AUSTRALIA. Australia has furnished the United States with several valuable suggestions for the operation of the machinery of self-government. Most notable of these is the Australlan ballot law. The In- dustrial arbitration law recently en- acted by the federal parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia Is another new departure that will afford an object lesson for the United States. A unique system of arbitration of all labor disputes has been In operation for several years in New Zealand, but the recent enactment of the Australian par- Nament goes further than any previous law in the recognition of workingmen's organizations. The Australlan industrial arbitration act provides for participation of both employes and employers before tribunals created by the act, but only members of registered trades unlous will be rec- ognized as representatives of wage- workers in the arbitration courts. Other things being equal the employer is re- quired by law to give preference to unionists when two or more men shall apply for the same position, The manifest object of the law is to make aftiliation with trades unions practically compulsory upon working- men, This feature of the law seems to rest upon the theory that the trades unfon could be wore easily held re- sponsible for the enforcement of the edicts of the court than a large nuu ber of irresponsible wageworkers, It Is doubtless true that injunctions, whereby obedience to the decision or arbitra- tion courts are to be insured, could be divected more effectively against a few aceredited representatives of labor than a wultitude of men, and the collection of tines imposed could be more readily enforced through a levy on the treasury of the trades union than upon money- less workmen who take part in a strike in vielation of the court orders. While the new industrial arbitration act of Australla has been enacted at the behest of the trades unions and would be satisfactory to the rank and file of the workmen of Australasia, it is exceedingly doubtful whether American workmen, who are so restive under re- stralnt and disposed to resent all court interference with their rights to work or abstaln from work, would be sat- isfled with such a law, even though it exalts the trades unfon by giving it rights over unorganized labor. Whether or not the compulsory em- ployment of members of trades unions would be pronounced by the courts of our various states and the federal court trust out of Nebraska without the aid of & writ of quo warranto, | an infringement upon personal rights, it is certain that the powers granted to the arbitration courts of Australia would be regarded in this country as dectdedly despotic, The Australlan courts, for example, have the power to declare what ‘shall be the standard wage. This weans that the courts are given the right to establish a standard of value for labof and for the products of labor. The exerclse of such a power by any legislative or judicial branch of the government would not be tolerated in this country, even if it were prac- tical for any tribunal to establish a standard of values and fix the price of commodities produced by skilled labor. Under such iditions the American farmer, who would enjoy ho such pro- tection as to the price of his commod- fties or the value of his labor, would be at a great disadvantage, In addition to the power to establish a scale of wages, the Australian courts, under the industrial arbitration act, will furthermore become regulators of the main conditions”of employment and are to take care that they shall never fall below the standards prevailing in the best conducted establishments, When these courts shall have declared any practice or usage in any industry to be & common rule, conformity to such order will be compulsory upon the persons employed in such industry, and obedi- ence may be enforced by injunctions, fines and penalties, Viewed at long range the effect of this extraordinary experiment in labor legislation will be to compel all wage workers to become members of trades unions, and in case of disputes between capital and labor to substitute for the trades union the arbitration court as the Irrevocable wage scale maker and as the indirect regulator of the value of all products produced by organized labor. HOW TO GET A MARKET HOUSE. All the plans and schemes for the location of a central market place and the erection of a market howse utterly fall to take Into account existing con- ditions. First and foremost, they appear to Ignore the fact that there is no money in the city treasury that could be ex- pended, either for the purchase of mar- ket house grounds or the erection of a market house. In the next place, it would be well-nigh impossible to raise the necessary money by a bond Issue, because It requires two-thirds of all the votes cast at the election to authorize a bond issue and the lmprobability of carrying such a proposition in the face of the united op- position of the retail grocers is apparent. A market house will cost all the way from $50,000 to $200,000 and the only feasible plan by which it could be secured In the near future would be by purchasing it gradually, on the install- ment plan. If the city can induce some capitalist, owning a suitable, centrally located tract of land, to advance the money for the erection of a market house, constructed in conformity with plans and speciications approved by the city, the mayor and council could enter into a contract for the acqulsition of the property by annual payments that would meet the interest due on the amount invested and pay for the prop- erty within a fixed period of years. Such an arrangement would leave the control and management of the market house In the hands of the city and the revenues derlved from the leasing of stalls and the granting of licenses would not only meet all expenses of malinte- nance, but leave a suticient surplus to pay for the original investment in from ten to thirty years. It remains to be seen whether any heavy property owner and capitalist can be induced to offer the city market grounds centrally located and a sufh- clent amount for the erection of a mar- ket house built on modern lines, ABOLISH STAR CHAMBER SESSIONS. The new Board of County Commis- sloners will be installed during the com- ing week and it is to be hoped that it will discard the star chamber method of doing business which has obtained for [ al years, The public ought not to be excluded from discussions of the county board on measures in which the taxpayers have a vital interest. Instead of openly debating all questions on which there is a difference of opinion the board has held executive sessions behind closed doors, and its open ses- sious have sknply enabled the public to ascertaln what conclusion was reached In the star chamber executive sessions, Years ugo when the board consisted of only three commissioners, two of the commissloners would weet on a street corner or In some saloon and agree upon united action in respect to the matters at the disposal of the board, and return- ing to the court house would direct the county clerk to record the decisions reached at the curbstone, or barroom meeting. When the membership of the board was iucreased to five it was be- lieved that these close corporation meth- ods would cease and that all questions coming before the board would be fully and treely and publicly discussed, so that the taxpaying citizens might know the position taken by every member of the board on all matters concerning the taxpayers. But the wethods now in vogue are not much of an improvement over the street corner and meetings of former years. “There Is no good reason why any mys- tery should surround the course adopted by the board on any question, or why its actions should not be at all times subjected to the searchlight of publicity, barroom Ex-Senator Chandler wants the presi- dent to, relieve himself of all publie dutles except such as relate to the whole people, leaving to subordinates the work of attending to the petty demands of routine business and otfice seckers, 1t is to be feared that before Mr. Chan- dler's ideal can be reached we will have to amend the constitution to lengthen the presidential term and set up a bar to re-election, The president who with- draws himself altogether from personal relations with the general public would practically give notice that Lie no longer courts public favor. At all events Presl- dent Roosevelt geems to be getting along nicely under the old system handed down from the fathers of the republic. — The secretary of the Board of Eduea- tion, who has been cited to appear be- fore the grand jury with the books and records of the school board, threatens to land a carload of documents in the court house, but we apprebend nobody in the court house will be seriously alarmed over the impending avalanche. There is abundant room to store all the books and records the school board has accumulated within the past three years, as well as a few bundles of “well defined rumors,” It is decldedly unkind, if not malicious, for our local contemporary, the Western Laborer, to entertain the suspicion that the scheme to build a bridge over the Missouri river at South Owaha is “an- other one of those foxy enterprises like the street car line over the East Omaha bridge, whose promoters bullt air castle power houses and laid down a line of steel rail rust which Is reputed to have cleaned up the neat sum of $100,000 for quitting the field The committee in charge want to cor rect the prevalling lpression that the forthcoming lecture of Webster Davis Monday evening has any political sig- nificance or is to be in any sense par- tisan. It has the assurance from the munagers of the Transvaal soclety that the address to be delivered by Mr. Davis yis strietly nonpartisan and that the pro- ceeds will be devoted exclusively to the relief of lipoverished Boer familles. London commentators on current events profess utmost astonishment up- on.the unexpected soclal and personal popularity to which the new king has attained. As the onerous duties of king of England lmpose no obligations ex- cept to make himself beholden to the people, King Edward would have no one but himself to blame If he did not succeed in maintaining cordial relations with his subjects. — Chance to Play Evenm. Washington Post. Somebody has sent Admiral Schley a plano. If he were a resentful man he would move into his enemy's apartment house and take lessons on the instrument. A Dollar on Its Rounds. Boston Globe. 1t White owes Black $1 and Black owes Brown $1 and Brown owes Gray $1 and Gray owes White §1, a dollar bill sent the rounds by White will cancel all the debts and at the end White will have the money in his pocket. Pay your bills and the chance 18 good that the money you set cir- culating will come back to you. The Millenlum Approaching. Philadelphia Press. It Prof. Loeb sncceeds in deferring death indefinitely by Qestroying the death germ, all the diseases te which flesh is helr will sooner or later become innocuous. The grim reaper will then have to depend for his crop entirely upon the ‘‘boat-rocking fdlot,” the “didn’t-know-it-was-loaded gun” and our old friend, the freight car coupling, though the latter is being grad- ually put out of business. An Undoubted Hit.” Fhiladelphia Record, President Roosevelt has made aa un- doubted hit in the selection of Governor Shaw of Jowa to succeed Secretary Gage at the head of the Treasury department. It is a democratic choice. The welfare of Wall street will not be eéspecially consid- ered by the new appointee where a hard- headed, prudent, careful and competent man can clearly see that Wall street wel- fare runs parallel with the public welfare. Uncertainty of Estimates. Springfield Republican. Estimates of the cost of the Nicaraguan canal, upon which not a spadetul of sofl has been dug, should be considered in the light of the cost of the Siberlan railroad. When begun, ten years ago, the cost’of the lne was estimated at 830,000,000 rubles, but a year ago It had already cost 780,000,- 000 rubles, and it cannot be finished short of & round 1,000,000,000, or roughly, In our money $500,000,000. The Walker commis- slon now thinks the canal by the Nica- ragua route could be bullt for about $190, 000,000, but no one should accept the figure as a finality. Evidences of National Good Will. Kansas City Star. The expressed desire of Emperor Willlam that the daughter of President Roosevelt should act as sponsor for the kaiser's yacht 1s a compliment that will not be overlooked in this country. It is an unusual manifes- tation of personal and national good will, and the public aspects of the incident wiil serve to impress it on the people of both countries. It may readily be understood that the quality of President Roosevelt's personality and officlal conduct appeals with especial force to Emperor William, perhaps the most direct and positiye ruler of Europe. The Heroine in Real Life, Indlanapolls News. That was a very pretty story that cpme from New York to the effect that a young woman was glving up millions of dollars in order to marry the man she loved, but the story was robbed of much of its ro- mance when the fact was brought out that she would have $15,000 a year anyhow and that she would begin a contest to break her father's will. What these commercial times would ke to see would be a young woman who would be willing to begin the battle of life with the man she loved by going into the kitchen and becoming a real helpmate. Leisure m Pace that Kills, Amerloan Medicine The mortality of Donothingism, according to Insurance statistics, 1s much higher than that of men with serlous occupations. It is well known that in certain occupations the death rate 1s very high, brewers and saloon- keepers, e. g, dying about twice as fast as the average, and butchers, workers in the bullding trades, glass-workers, miners, chemists and druggists being much above the average. Yet, take these and those of all occupations together and the occupation of the “gentleman of lelsure” 18 the hard- est on lite, reported to exceed that of the average by 132 per cent. There s at pres- ent perhaps not great danger of an increase of the unoccupled In our country, as our restless energy would prevent it If it were nuot the fashion of the day to be busy. The truth may be of service to the rich and shows that poverty and even the most in- jurious work {s less dangerous than wealth and idleness. Time has & wise way of iron- ically killing the time killer. JANUARY 6 1902 MONEY IN THE WORLD. a of the A Nt of Money in Use in A1l Conntries, New York Mall and Express It takes about a year to collect full sta tistics of the amount of money In use In all the countries of the world, so that the figures collected by our director of the mint and Just ready for publication, relate to January 1, 1501, This annual statement was first made in 1873, and the information has been gathered with increasing care and completeness every year, until the statistics are about as accurate as they can be made. There have been some surprising chan, in the world's money supply in the last twenty-eight years, the greatest of which Is the increase in volume, and the most elgnificant is the gain In the proportion of 8old In the currency of different nations In 1873 the total for the world was: Gold, $1,200,800,000; 685,000, and un covered paper, 000. 1t will be ob- served that, to avold what would be virtual duplicatién, the full amount of “paper money” 18 not included, but only the “un- covered,” or the excess over the coin re- #erves held for {ts redemption. It will be seen that In a total volume of money reck oned at a little more than $4,500,000,000 over halt was “uncovered paper,” and In the coin gold exceeded silver by about one- fifth. That was before silver had depreci- ated. Now we find the surprising fact that at the beginning ot 1901 the amount of gold had Increased to $4,908,700,000, or more than quadrupled, the silver had risen to $2,841,- 100,000, something less than quadrupling, and the uncovered paper was $3,033,400,000, or only about 30 per cent more than at the beginning of the period. An analysis of the change would be Interesting, but it fs apparent on the surface that the advance has been toward a sounder and more sta- ble system for the world in general. The total money volume increased to $11,781,- 200,000 at the beginning of 1801, as com- pared to $4,590,030,000 fwenty-elght years betore. In this time Germany has estab- lished the gold standard, the Latin union has suspended silver coinage and the United States and Russia have restored specie pay- ments, The United States had only about $135,- 000,000 in gold in 1873, scattered in banks and in circulation on the Pacific coast. In 1878, on the eve of the resumption of specle payments, it had increased to $213,200,000, and at the end of 1881 it was over $478,000,- 000. By this time the silver inflation got #s work in and the galn in gold was checked untll after 1803. At the time of the sound money campaign of 1896 it was still under $600,000,000, but since then the golden tide has been rising in the treasury and in the banks and the stock is the larg- est in the world. It was $1,110,000,000 a year ago and has gained steadily since. Our £old 1s now nearly twice our silver in coin- age value, and not far from three times the volume of “uncovered paper.’ FINANCES OF THE NATION, Uncle Sam Doing HBusiness at No. 1 Eany Street. Philadelphia Ledger. For the calendar year the revenues of the government exceeded the ordinary ex- penditure by $100,000,000. This {s not ex- actly a matter for congratulation, because & part of its meaning is that the govern- ment collected from the people taxes that were not meeded. A reduction of taxes should follow, that the surplus of 1902 may be reduced to a reasonable amount. About three-fourths of this’ great eurplue of 1901 was used to reduce the public debt. Bonds of the par value of mearly $59,000,000 were purchaspd at a cost of $72,226,845. Thus the cash on hand s about $30,000,000 in excess of the balance on hand at the close of 1900. The treasury holds nearly $300,000,000 in cash; deducting $150,000,000 for a gold re- serve, the avallable cash amounts to $148,- 000,000. There is more money in the hands of the people than ever before. On December 1, 1901, the amount of money outside of the treasury was $2,250,256,230 and the amount per caplta $28.73. This 18 a gain of §i per capita over the amount in circulation In 1897, The increase is largely in gold coln and ®gold certificates, the amount thereof having almost doubled in less than four years, There has also been a large increase In national bank motes in circulation, due to the act of March 14, 1900, which promoted the organization of small banks and en- couraged the issue of circulating notes. The only kind of money withdrawn from circu- lation was the treasury notes, fssued under the act of July 14, 1890, of which about $43,- 000,000 have been redeemed. These statistics have a two-fold meaning. The great increase in the revenues of the government, an increase that exceeded the estimates, was due in part to the unusual volume of business transacted, and this, In turn, was due In part to the easing of the money market. ~The country needed the increase of money in circulation that 1s shown to exist, and without it business would have euffered, notwithstanding the great demand for American products. The one thing needed in the nation's finances, for which only partial provision was made in the act of March 14, 1000, is a flexible system of note Issuance, whereby the vol- ume of the currency will be approximately adjusted to the demands of trade. PERSONAL NOTES, Robert Loufs Stevenson's birthplace in Edinburgh is for sale, and the price asked is somewhat less than $3,000. Miss McComb, the New York helress who married the man of her choice, may have to worry along on a paltry $15,000 a year. Edward Everett Hale advises the yeung men to make it a rule to talk every day to someone who is his superior in intel- lect. Major Ebstein, who is to take charge of the Brooklyn police, is of the General Phil Sheridan type, short and well knit and a hard and quick hitter The old saying that “beauty is but skin deep” snould not longer have the courage to hold up its head in the face of the fact that the possession of mere beauty entitles a Parisienwe to $2,000 reward Young Chauncey M. Depew has just ma- triculated as a medical student in New York. “Buster,” as he was nicknamed In infancy by his father, expects to finish his studies in four years and will then become a practicing physician, Representative J. H. Small of North Carolina has never forgotten his newspaper training, and from force of habit notes the important happenings of each day's session. He makes it a rule to answer every letter the same day it is recelved. Prof. Wilbur C. Knight of the State Uni versity of Wyoming 15 engaged in putting together the pleces of a sea serpent which he discovered in 1805, The animal was sixty feet long and is one of the most val- uable specimens ever captured Since the announcement of her engage- ment to Payne Whitney, Miss Helen Hay has been asked by many publishers to write verses, but she says she can never do that sort of thing to order, and she does not expect to attempt any such work for some time to come. Mrs. J. Shillington of Chicage has for- warded to Secretary Long a beautiful an- chor of immortelles to be placed on the graves of the dead on the battleship Maine in Arlington cemetery. She has sent a similar tribute every year since the lu- terment of the victims at Arlington, v | duughters-in-law, BITS OF WASHINGTON LIFE, tehings of Men and Events at the Nntional Capitol. With the beginning of the new v Washington dropped to zero as a M for marriage misfits. Heretofore the Dis trict of Columbia rivaled Chicago and Da- Kota in facilities for obtaining divorce. consequently the courts were crowded with petitions for relief from the matri monial yokes Almost all of them were based on charges of cruelty or desertion Hereafter divorce will not be gran under the new code except upon regular statutory grounds The rush of applicants for divorce last year brought to light a varfety of domestic grievanc One man sues his wife for divorce on tHe ground of cruelty, charg- ing that she was in the habit of throwing teapots at him. Another man declares that his wife pawned her wedding ring for 30 and went to Alexandria, forgetting to ecome back. A woman says that her husband hit her with a monkey wrench and made her jump out of the window. An other woman says that her husband threat- ened to kill her, and another that her hus band has a disagrecable temper and has struck her, while yet another refers to the fact that in 1804 her husband hit her with & cowhide. Habitual drunkennces and non- support frequent charges Senator Cullom made & call on President Roosevelt the other day and when he came out of the chief executive's room he was asked: “Did you suggest to the president any candidates for cablnet positions?’ I never offer advice to the president,” re- plied Mr. Cullom, “regarding cabinet posi- tlons. 1 did that once and I will mever do it again. When Grant was in the White House 1 thought T saw a chance to get an Tlinofs man in the cabinet, so I suggested his name to Grant and pointed out some of his good qualities. Grant arose from his table and, stepping up to me, placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me squarely in the face. Then he sald, se- riously: ‘Cullom, & president wants to be just as free from interference or advico when ho selects a member of his cabinet as ho does when he picks out his wife.' " ar A are There was great alarm in the senate chamber recently, reports the Washington Post, when the ancient snuffbox seemed to be missing. Inquiry, however, showed that It had only been taken out to be filled, and 1t was soon again in its accustomed place. No one knows how many years that snuffbox has rested in its little niche on the right of the presiding officer’s desk. Senator Allison has been in the senate nearly thirty years, and it was there be- fore he came. Tradition has it that Clay and Calhoun and Benton and all of the worthy snuff-takers of the distant past used the now historic box. It fs still kept filled, but the atmosphere of the senate chamber 1s o dry that the snuff has to be dampened twice or three times a week to keep the fine particles from permeating the alr and causing an epl- demic of sneezing. Very few of the sen- ators use the snuffbox nowadays. Occa- sionally, when one of the septuagenarians has & cold in his head, ho takes a pinch, but otherwise the little receptacle remains undisturbed. During the first day of ocongress 1,945 bllls were introduced by members of the house. During the second day 1,104 more were sent in, making a total of 8,049 for the first two days. The clerks In the billroom are working in three shifts preparing the measures for tho printer, while at the government printing office the presses are running continually, furnishing the con- gressmen with printed coples of the pros- pective la: These figures do not include the resolutions, of which it {s estimated thero have been at least 600 introduced in the house. During the entire Fifty-sixth congress 14,247 bille were introduced. Of this num- ber 12,220 were put in during the first ses- slon. So far the Fifty-seventh congress holds the record for the number of house bills introduced during the first two days. Fresident Roosevelt recelved fiva Ute Indians the other day. They had come to Washington on business connected with the disposition of mineral {nterests in their lands. Only one of the redskins could speak English, and the president tried in vain to “jolly"” them. Everything he sald to them, through Martin Van, who acted as an interpreter, fell flat. The Indlans simply gazed at the chief executive with stolid faces and gave absolutely mo indi- cation of interest. Finally in desperation the president said to the interpreter: “Tell them that I had fity Indlans in my regiment during the war with Spain and that as fighters they were crackerjacks The faces of the members of the delega- tion brightened up at this and they nodded an earnest assent. They left the execu- tive office with their faces wrinkled with smiles. Agent Mynton, who had the In- dians in charge, sald they had not smiled from the time they arrived in Washing- ton until Mr. Roosevelt pald the compli- ment to their race as fighters. A correspondent of the Chicago News re- ports a soclal war raging in official circles in Washington. Mrs. Root, wife of the secretary of war and a leader of officlal society, insists that ladles must use cards bearing other means of identification than surnames. As a result of this edict the engravers are doing a rushing business. It is held that a card bearing simply “Mrs. Smith” does not sufficiently identity the owner and §0 Causes extreme annoyance to the recipients during the rush of the soclal season. The cards of mothers-in- law are frequently identical with those of and there are many statesmen who have the same names as persons in private life. Hence when any- body except a person of extraordinary prominence uses such cards there s confu- slon. Mrs. Root maintains that all but the wives of cabinet officers, ambassadors and such persons @s Mrs, Miles, Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Logan, who are so well known that a mistake 1s impossible, must use cards which contaln better means of identi- fication than the mere name. However. her ide has stirred up a hornet's nest The women to whom her criticlsm have pointed see direct insult in them, because as & rule every “Mrs. Smith" believes the particular “Smith” to whom she s mar- rled Is the greatest person on earth. A'S FIRST th American aln. An Omcinl Life Familiar nd American Philadelphia Press It fs not without significance that the first president-elect of the reconstructed vepublican government of Cuba should be oneral Tomas Estrada Palma, who for twenty years has been familiar with Amer- fean life and American ideals. In fact, General Palma, living in the retirement of his rural home in the state of New York, rather represents the even sense and lack of fllghtiness that is characteristic of the American statesman who hails from the country and knows a pistol from a pruning knife, a Maxim from a machete It will be all the better for Cuba in the serlous times to come that it has elected a man to the presidency who has been able (0 keep out of the heated atmosphere of the revolutionary camps, while at the it to pracfical chanmels, The great diffi- culty with all Central and South American republica is that their politicians, their statesmen, lack equipoise. They can nefther stand success and partioipation in office; they cannot serve as law-ablding cltizens in private life when someone othor than themselves is in ofica, Acquainted with the American fdeas on these lssues, familiar at first hand with Amerlcan experience, General Palma should be able to exert a conservative Influence on all his assoclates, and tide Cuba over a perfod that has in< variably been one of destructive policies, because of destructive jealousies in all other newly-organized South Amorican states. Of course, o the ense of Cuba the {scua fs very much more eimplified than it cver was in any of the other Latin-American republics, since the United States (s pledged betore the world to secure a stable gov- ernment. With men like Palma at the head of affairs, this should be the easier of accomplishment, and that the Cubans will meet the situation in a broad spirit will bo the hopo of every Amerfean. The announcement of the cholce of the electoral college will not bo made until Febroary 24, After that will come the convening of the Cuban congress and tha setting of tho full governmental machinery In motion Fortunately for the Cubans, astde from the question of their cholce of Palma, three years' administration of the fsland by the United States has not beem without fts effect, and the futuro los with them to profit by thelr unparalleled opportunities, The world expects the United States to secura atability, to upset once and for all the traditions that Latin-American atates reprosent mere compromise civilizations in A state of unstable equilibrium. But to do this the co-operation of the Cuban electorate and those elected 18 needed, and the chofce of Palma, whose poliey 8 one of friendliness to the United States, should prove to be a sound step, unless the man is much belted NAGGING A NATION. to Stir Up Strite with Germany. New York Tribune, Nagging at Germany continues. It I8 an ignoble practice, but it must be supposed to afford some morbid enjoyment to those who indulge in it. Human tastes are varied. There are those who love to bully and to oppress the weak, and others who exult in making uupleasant faces or opprobrious gestures at the strong, the latter trusting to thelr own insignificance or their aglility to glve them immunity from punishment. There are also those who, through restless- ness or thoughtlessness or something even more discreditable, find pleasure in Nagging, not at individuals, which would be bad form, but at nations, for which ocoupation each holds himeelf to be a ohartered libertine. For a natlon cannot bring sult for slander, and if its government takes any notice ot an attack s not that distinction for the at- tacker? And what can be more indicative of the most vigilant patriotism than to be perpotually bristling, porcupine-wise, against som» forelgn power? Such nagging s, howsver, in fact a com- pliment—though unmeant—to the object of it. For it indicates that the latter is a great and fmportant nation. No one woyld wasto his nagging upon & emall and insig- nificent objeot. It indicates that it is a na- tion in particularly close relations with this one. Otherwise thero would be no zest in the nagging process. You couldn't ralse a bit of enthusiasm by lampooning, however severely, the Askhooned of Swat. It indi- cates, also, which s perhaps most to the point, that the nation which Is nagged at is peacefully and amicably disposed toward the one whose people do the nagging, and is inclined not to resent violently such annoy- ance, but to endure it with patience and for- bearance. For Wwe cannot suppose they really destro or mean to provoke hostilities, It they thought there was actual dangér of war they would cease thelr nagging in a jifty. The charm of the performance to them lles in its appearance of great temer- ity and at the same time its entire freedom from danger—like poking sticks at a stuffed lon. * ¢ ¢ The facts are, as our Washington corre- spondent yesterday made plain, that Ger- many has taken pains to consult the United States {n advance concerning the Venezue- lan matter and to shape its course 50 as to give this country no offence, and there seems to be no possibility of any misunder- standing or embarrassment over the affalr, Those are the facts. It s not the part of patriotism to misrepresent them. It is not a welcome service to our own government to play the marplot or to conjure up buga- boos. It 18 no credit to our own land and people to nag at other nations. Ignoble Attem SMILING REMARKS, Detroit Free Pres 1 don't see how you breathe in here,’” gald Gummey, who had entered the stuffy newspaper office, “I don't,” said the editor briefly. “Have- n't time to breathe.” Philadelphia Press the tacetlous clerk, dinn moceasing," “You don’t say!" sald the old lad “Fact, ma'am, I assure you. the ‘Last of the Mohicans.’ * Brooklyn TLife: “Kape allve, Mike! We're rescuin’ ye." \ Volce from the debris: there wid ye?' “'Bure he 18." Ast him wud he be so kind as t'step af the rooins. 1've enough on top av me wid- out him.” Puck: Lady—My husband won't wear those shirts I bought 'him for Christmas, I didn’t think he would; and now I'd like to exchango them. Clerk—For what, madam? Lady—Well, you might let me look at some lace handkerchiefs and some silver hatpins. ‘‘Yes, ma'am,” sald ‘these aro genuine In- Kiade on s big Clancy up Philadelphia_ Press: “That's ri claimed old Mr. Bull, approvingly, reuding of the proposed legislation anarchists. “It's a good thing to anarchy out of this country altogeth “The iden!” cried old Mrs. Bull, “why, they ain’t nothin’ better to rub on’ brulses and burns! and Plain Dealer: “An Alabama shot at a cllent and missed a vital hy did he do 1t2* 1 dunno. Perhaps he wanted to adminfs- his estate.” THE OLD WORLDLING, Boston Transcript He shambles by each sunny afternoen; His portly form i shrunken as a spectre; His face I8 vacant as the morning moon; Quaffed 18 his nectar. Out of his eyes the dancing light s gone; Out of his blood the wanton warmth that thrilled it; Out of his alf the charm that conquests won When fancy willed it Proud was his port and tasty his army; and nights o'erflowed with song and laughter; He never dreamed that, these would pass away And this come after, He courted He asked Wi wlven; He craved all wordly good and had his fil; He sought not heaven, leasure and segured it still; or friends, and love, and these His friends have vanished never to return; His, pleasures, treunures, all his hoart's aesire His pasglons only in thelr embers burn; Mute s his lyre, ¥or him the eventime has brought no Ught; Tts slghing breezes pity as they kiss him The dark will bear bis to the wastes of night; Earth will not miss him game' time working heroically for the free- dom of the island and abating in nothing the fervor of patriotism, though confining Alas, the life that has no upward look, No'wacrifice of self. no high endeavor} Its tante becoming like the seer's book, Bitter forever!