Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, February 7, 1903, Page 6

THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY THE ©OMAHA DAILY BEE ¥. ROSEWATER, EDITOR PUBLISHED EVERY TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION Dally Bee (without Sunday), One Year..$4.00 MORNING. Dally Bee and Sunday, Une Year.. 600 Lilustrated Bee, One Year 200 Bunday Bee, One Year 20 | Buturday B¢ Year.. .l Lo 160 Twentleth Century Farmer, One Year.. 100 DELIVERED BY CARRIER. Daily Bee (without Bunday), per copy. 2c Daily Bee (without Sunday), per week. ..1c Dally Bee (Including Bunday), per week..lic Bunday Bee, per copy . i . be Evening Bee (without Sunday), per week 8¢ Evening Bee (ncluding Sunday), per week . 10¢ Complaints of irregularities in delivery should be addressed to City Circulation De- partment OFFICES. Omaha—The Bee Bullding. Bouth Omana—City Hall Bullding, Twen- ty-ifth and M Streets. Council Blufts—10 Pear] Street. hicago—1640 Unity Bullding New York—228 Park Row Butldi Washington—01 Fourteenth Street. CORRESPONDENCE, T Communications relating to news and ed- {torial matter should be addressed: Omaha Bee, Editorial Department. REMITTANCES. & Remit by draft, express or postal on'er, payable to The Bee Publishing Company, Only 2-cent stamps accepted in payment of mail accounts Personal checks, except, on Omaha or eastern exchange, not accepted. THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY. STATEMENT OF CIRCULATION. Btate of Nebraska, Douglas Caking company, being duly sworn blishing company, v 3 lpf:.ul the n"‘!\ml [nvln)lbfl' 0(‘(\!1\ and complete copies of The Daily, Morning, Evening and Sunday Bee printed during the month of January, 198, was as follows: 30,420 17 30,660 18 19.. EESUBNERENNES Total. Net total sales. Net average s GRECRGE B. TZSCHUCK. Subscribed In my presence and sworn to before me this 3ist day of January, A. D. 1908, M. B. HUNGATE, (Seal) Notary Public. —_— In the meanwhile the alleged local coal trust is enjoying a peaceful armis- tice. . Latest advices fromi Morocco are to the effect that the pretender has es- caped. He always escapes In all the comic opera President Roosevelt has so far shown remarkable ability in steering clear of pitfalls in the Venezuelan matter and he may be depended on to continue to avold embarrassing entanglements. Seeegieppet— U. P. Baldwin does not propose to take any chances with a public debate on the question of rallroad tax-shirking. He has been admonished before that his weakness lies In talking too much. E—— Montana law makers have had the discourtesy to turn down the demand for woman suffrage by a decisive vote. The suffrage brigade will not be saying such nice things about the Montana men from now on. E—— That Nebraska City rallroad organ must have got an extra order to turn over its whole editorial page to the rail- road tax bureau and send the bill for the cost of setting and inserting the ready-made stuff. The marquis of Castellane thinks the United States and France should get together on a commercial alllance. We thought that is what the two countries did when his son, Count Boni, married the daughter of Jay Gould. Sp— Omaha will be gratified to see the walls of the auditorfum bullding rise from the foundation with the opening of spring, but a good many people in Omaha are from Missouri—they want to see the last bricks lald before they Jubllate, ——— After sifting all the evidence adduced in the investigation into the Lessler bribery charges the conclusion is forced that the bribes were all offered without any bribe givers behind them, just as Topsy grew up without any father or wother. ———t— The question presents itself that if the fees of the sheriff’s office have fallen so that they will not pay the salaries of the deputles and office help, why has not the work of the office been reduced enough to permit of a reduction of the sherifl’s force e It seems that the tangle in the Dela- ware senatorlal contest is not to be un- raveled forthwith upon the mere offer of Addicks to withdraw, especlally when there Is a well-defined suspicion that the withdrawal bhas some kind of an invis- ible string attached to it. —————— Democeratie leaders are exerting them- selves to bring the race problem to the front, north as well as south. But they can not square their demands for equal treatment of the brown people In the Philippines with their denial of eivil rights to the black people of the south. Hobson of Spapish war fame thinks that his efforts to secure retirement from the navy have been frustrated by a political conspiracy that fears his pro- Jection into the’ political arena in the Alabama dlstrict in which he resides. A man with his fighting reputation ought not be abashed by obstacles of this kind. OMAHA AND THE STATE. Omaha and Nebraska are bound to- gether for better or for worse by tles that cannot be severed. Whatever pro- motes the growth and prosperity of Omaha benefits the state at large. Whatever retapds the growth and pros perity of the state hurts Omaha. In the parlance of the trades unions, an injury to one is an injury to all. The hot wind that blisters the corn fields in central Nebraska, the drouth that withers the crops In the Republican valley or the blizzard that destroys the live stock in the semi-arid region depresses business and retards the growth of Omaha. The closing down of the Omaha smelting works or meat packing houses, the fail- ure of its principal banks, In fact any disaster that cripples Omaha would also seriously affect the prosperity and well- being of every section of the state. The taxable wealth of Nebraska, in- cluding raflroads, is computed at $1,200,- 000,000 to $1,300,000,000, of which $140,- 000,000, or thereabouts, is located in Omaha and South Omaha. These two cities are practically one, and together they pay more than one-tenth of all the state taxes. In round figures, Omaha alone has pald more than $1,000,000 in state taxes during the past ten years, and its proportion of the state tax will grow as the city grows in wealth and population. It Omaha were wiped out by a con- flagration a deadly blow would be in- flicted not only upon the city, but upon the: whole state. If Nebraska were In the position of the state of Kansas with reference to its commercial metropolis as Kansas City 1s in Missouri, or if Omaha were located in Towa, the bulk of the burden of state taxation now borne by Omaha would be thrown upon the shoulders of the state at large. Give Omaha a population of 250,000 and tax- able wealth of $250,000,000 and the bur- den of taxation now carried by the bal- ance of the state would decrease propor- tionately, while its land values would increase correspondingly. With 12 per cent of the state population at Omaha and South Omaha the producers of the state have a home market for a large portion of their food products that would otherwise have to be marketed beyond the state, and the producers in Nebraska would lose the difference in the cost of transportation to Omaha and the eastern markets. Manifestly it is to the interest of the people of Nebraska outside of Omaha to back Omaha In every ehterprise and ef- fort that tends to promote its growth and Increase its taxable wealth. The demand of Omaha for the enact- ment of laws that will compel railroads to pay thelr just proportion of municipal taxes In addition to the'taxes they pay toward the maintenance of public schools, county and state government is stigmatized by the rallroad tax burean s supremely selfish and calculated to rob the balance of the state of the dis- tributed value of railroad terminals and improvements at the Nebraska metrop- olis. This idea is sought to be insidiously inculcated through paid editorials fabri- cated by the railroad literary bureau under the supervision of John N. Bald- win, but the people of Nebraska are too intelligent to swallow such chaff. They are awake to the bunco game the rall- road taxshirkers have been playing for years. They know that the values of the railroad terminals at Omaha have never figured In the assessment of the rallroads by state boards. They know that not a dollar of the value of these terminals has ever been distributed to their county, school district or state. They know also that the assessment of these terminals for state, county and school district taxes distributed on the mileage basis from Omaha to the west boundary of the state will in no way be affected by thelr assessment for city taxes at Omaha. On the contrary, the assessment of the terminals, depot buildings and other im- provements in Omaha will lower the state tax rate and raise real estate val- ues in Omaha. To be more explicit, if the railroads are compelled to pay their share of municipal taxes the city tax rate will go down, real estate values will go up, and when real estate in Omaha is relieved of, the excessive bur- den by which it has for years been de- pressed it will be sought by foreign cap- ital for investment and' improvement. An advance in real estate values will increase Omaha's contribution to the state treasury and the outside counties and school districts will pay that much less into the state treasury. Incldentally an Increase In real estate values in Omaha will stimulate an advance of land values all over Nebrasks, just as the growth of Chicago and St. Louls has stimulated the Increase of real estate values in Illinols and Missouri, WILL CONTINUE INVESTIGATION. The congressional committee charged with an Investigation of coal transporta- tion, and as to whether there was a com- bination or conspiracy between the rall- roads and operators, has been author- ized to continue its investigation and to visit such cities as might be necessary. This 1s the proper course. The testl- mony taken by the committee at Boston pretty coaclusively demonstrated that there was au understanding between operators and rallroads in regard to the transportation of coal, the effect of which was to deprive the New England markets of the supply they might have had. There Is not a doubt that a similar state of affalrs existed elsewhere and it is most desirable that the fact be fully ascertalned and exposed. We do not r—r———— The insurance companies are very strenuous in their opposition to any change In the revenue laws that will make them pay more taxes than they have been paying. That is perfectly natural, but the representatives of the Insurance companles will have to ex- plain why Nebraska should not levy in- surance taxes on the same basls that sbtains in Illinols, Iowa and Missourl, know what can be done in the matter— whether those gullty of such a con- spiracy, involving suffering to many thousands of people and serious injury to Industries, can be punished, but at aay rate a thorough aund searching in vestigation should be wmade and un- doubtedly the committee can be trusted to do this. . If wdat was disclosed at Boston is found to have existed in New York, Philadelphia and elsewhere, it will at least suggest the expediency of devising a way to prevent the recur. rence of such a condition. ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION. The house of representatives passed without debate the Elkins bill providing against rebates and discriminations by common carriers and enlarging the pow- ers of the Interstate com. mission. We have heretofore given an outline of the provisions of this meas- ure, which relates principally to rail- roads and is really supplementary to the interstate commerce act. It will un doubtedly be approved by the president and its effect will be to render the ex- isting law more effective. While some of the'great combinations, as the Stand- ard Oil company, for example, are no longer asking rebates because being more or less interested in the railroads, yet the new law will afford protection to the numerous small shippers who are now at a disadvantage by reason of the discrimination in rates in favor of the larger shippers—a condition that it has seemed impossible to remedy under ex- isting law. A good feature of the bill Is that it applies to persons or corpora- tions who solicit or receive any rebate or discrimination as well as to corpora- tions that grant them, the penalty being the same for each. Whether or not anything more will be done by the present congress in the way of anti-trust legislation is uncertain. The bill creating a department of com- merce, now in conference, contains an anti-trust provision added by the senate and it 1s expected that this will be ac- cepted by the house, in which event it is thought that nothing further will be enacted. This amendment provides for publicity and it is sald lll.llt together with the Elkins act goes as far as the party leaders and the sdministration propose to go at this juncture. At all events some progress will have been made toward meeting the public de- mand for legislation to put a stop to railroad discrimination and the super- vision and regulation of the combina- tions engaged in Interstate commerce, and with this done there should be less difficulty in taking what further steps shall be found necessary to the carry- ing out of a comprehensive policy of trust regulation and control. If the at- torney general s given authority to ex- pedite proceedings against corporations amenable to the law and is provided with adequate means to carry on prose- cutions there is every reason to expect good results in the not remote future. The administration can be depended upon to make every effort to enforce the laws to the extent of the authority glven it. Commerce ————— THE NATIONAL OREDIT. It is an interesting fact both as ev!- dence of the natlonal credit and the abundant supply of capital that the sec- retary of the treasury has been deluged with letters from persons who want to bid for the Panama canal bonds that are to be issued to defray the cost of constructing the isthmian waterway. A Washington dispatch says that from the amount of interest shown by the public, Secretary Shaw Is inclined to belleve that a flat 2 per cent loan could be floated at par. The last bond issue was made at par, but {n addition to bearing 2 per cent. interest the bonds were worth another one-half per cent interest when deposited by national banks to secure circulution. Some of the treasury offi- clals feared that unless the canal bonds were placed on the same basis as the 2 per cent bonds of 1000 they could not be sold at par, but the great desire man- ifested by the public to buy them has changed this feeling and the opinion s that they could be sold at par without difficulty. The Panama canal measure authorizes the secretary of the treasury to borrow on the credit of the United States from time to time, as the proceeds may be required to defray expenditures author- ized by the act, the sum of $130,000,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, and to issue coupon or registered bonds, redeemable in gold coin and bearing in- terest in gold at the rate of 2 per cent per annum, to be disposed of at not less than par. All citizens of the United States are to be given an equal oppor- tunity to subscribe therefor. It will be seen that the bonds are to be issued only as required to meet expenditures and they are not made avallable as security for bank note circulation. Yet there is no doubt tha¢ they would be promptly disposed of, since undoubtedly a considerable amount of capital is not returning even so small an Interest as the bonds will bear. The Bee's position relative to the Howell-Gilbert water works bill is not on the ground of opposition to municipal ownership of the water works Or any desire to obstruct the purchase of the plant. It has objected to the bill mainly because it overrides the principle of home rule, not only in providing for a governor-appointed water board to per- form purely local functions, but in legis- lative prescription of what Omaha must do in a strictly municipal matter. On the same theory that the leglslature undertakes to make the purchase of the water works compulsory, it can make the purchase of the gas works, the elec- trie lighting plant, the felephone system or the street rallway compulsory. If it can make the purchase of the water s compulsory irrespective of the wishes of the people who must pay for them, 1t can later make their sale com- pulsory. Overturn the principle of home rule and the legislature can direct the use of property belonging to the munici- pal corporation in any way it sees fit. If it can compel Omaha to'buy the plant that supplies water to South Omaha, it ean compel South Omaba to buy the plant that supplies gas to Omaha. De. part from the principle of home rule and there are o Lmits to leglslative intrusion and confusion in our municl pal government. The Minnesota legislature pointed special committees to investi gate personally into conditions at St. Louls before taking action on an appro- priation for the state's participation in the Loulsiana FPurchase exposition. With this brilllant example before them it will davolve upon some of our enter- prising Nebraska legislators to work up a junket of their own to St. Louls at the joint expense of the state and the exposition management. The speedy adjustment of the threat- ened strike among the job printers and pressmen of Omaha shows what can be done to avert labor troubles when all parties go at it with a spirit of mutual confidence. If the Union Pacific strike could now be settled on some plan satisfactory to both employes and em- ployer, the labor situation here would be completely relicved. has ap It scems that the fraternal insurance bill endorsed by the state convention of fraternals as just the thing for Ne- braska does not satisfy all the frater- nals. It will be In order now for the friends of the measure to charge the opposition with being stirred up by the Jealousy of the old line companies. S ——— The governors of three states, Illinofs, Indiana and Towa, will participate as stellar attractions at a Washington’s birthday banquet at Peoria. This will present an opportunity to repeat three times over what the governor of North Carolina sald to the governor of South Carolina at their famous meeting. —— Congress has just agreed to legislation that will grant moderate increase of pay to all the federal judges, so that the federal district judge, who is lowest on the list, will hereafter receive $6,000 a year instead of $5,000. In Nebraska we are still paying our judges of the state supreme court $2,600 a year. —y Correct Diagno New York World. The best thing about our 11,000,000 fight- ing men {8 their practically unanimous de- sire to make fighting the very last resort. Working the E or. 8t. Louls Globe-Democrat. Germany s trying to raise the blockade and Venezuela is trying to ralse the money. In the meantime Uncle Sam is expected to give both of them a friendly lift. A Sematorial Surprise. Indlanapolis Journal. It the senmate did not surprise fitself in passing the Elkins anti-railroad discrimina- tion bill it surprised the country. Just how that body got at the bill is one of the things which is not explained. A Bright Progpect. ‘Washington Post. ‘We have made a start in the right direc- tion in the matter of providing adequate pay for the judges of our courts. Some day they may be as well pald as our base ball players and vaudevill tisty ey e— Willing to Pay the Price. New York Tribune, It might be supposed that the prevailing high prices for meats of all kinds would cause vegetarian societies to prosper and expand as never before—in fact, to flourish like unto green bay trees. But in some things this is undoubtedly a perverse gen- eration, and total abstainers from flesh f00d are still fow and far between, except among infants and invalids. The consump- tion of beefsteaks and chops continues to be enormous. Americans want hearty meals, even at high prices. P @ in the Alaskan Dispute. Kansas City Journal. Canada is much in need of a port on the Alaskan Pacific. Lynn canal is a magnifi- cent body of water, as important in a strategic way as any on the western coast of this continent, and should it become possessed of this great land:locked harbor it could place its goods and merchandise into the Yukon valley without paying duties to a foreign nation, it would be hundreds of miles nearer to the Orlent and might be able to defy and threaten our su- premacy in the Pacific at some critical time when least expected. TWO ENGINEERS IN THE CAB. Cleveland Plain Dealer: It has been sug- gested that every locomotive cab, at least the locomotive cabd of express trains, should have two engincers, who can divide between them the responsibility of con- stant watchfulness of the track ahead. When the lives of so many are dependent upon the steadiness and constancy of a single pair of eyes, it would seem as it this were a happy suggestion. New York Tribune: The Plainfleld hor- ror and other rallroad disasters prove the necessity of having two engineers in the cab of every mile-z-minute express. Two pilots stand in the wheelhouses of our ferryboats. 1If one of them {s overcome suddenly by iliness the other is at his side ready to relieve him. As & mere matter of economy the railroads would save money by putting two engineers close to the throttles of the meteors on the rafls. * * * There's a tidal wave of public opinion here and now which comes rolling in to overwhelm unwise disregard of public wel- fare In transportation policles and meth- ods. Who can stand against a tidal wave? Two engineers in the cabs of fast passen- ger trains are as necessary as two pilots in the wheelhouses on the ferries watc ing for possible dangers. Rallroads which refuse to meet so reasonable a demand will ngt long enjoy public confidence. Springfield Republican: The fearful acci- dent on the Central of New Jersey railroad 1s likely to result in the voluntary or en- forced practice by railroads using a certaln type of locomotive of placing an extra man in the cab besides the engineer and fire- man. On the ordinary locomotive the fire- man 1s always close by the engineer in prosecuting his work. But on the so-callea camel-back locomotives the fireman Is placed beyond the assistance of the engi- neer when coaling and stoking the fires. Such an engine was drawing the express which telescoped the local train at We fleld, N. J. According to the dylng state- ment of the engineer, he was giving his momentary attention to & break which was filling the cab with steam, and so missed the danger signals thrown along the rear of the delayed local train. If the fireman or a third employe had been in the cab with the engineer the accldent would in all probability have been prevented. The blame would seem to lie upon the rallroad company quite as much as upon the engl- neer of the express. It provided an en which kept engineer and firoman apart, left to ome man the duty of regulating speed, looking out for signals and attend. ing to any little accidents that may happen at any time te the mechanism of the loco- motive OTHER LANDS THAN OU Since the return of the Boer leaders to South Africa there has been some shifting in their attitude towards the new govern- mént and towards each other, and the new rulers are at.a loss as to whether to be amused or worrled about it. Botha, who took the lead in Europe, has fallen back in favor of Delarey. Delarey, since the bat- tle of Magerstontein, has displayed con- siderable hostility towards Kruger a Cronje. He always considered that the in- capacity and obstinacy of Crénje in the face of the advice he offered was the cause of the Boer disaster at Paardeberg, and that Mr. Kruger showed oqual stupidity in his support of Cronje, Gespite strongly worded protests from Delarey. Altogether Delarey was dissatisfied with the old administration and he is now willing to accept loyally the new condition of affalrs. Botha, it 1s known, has decided that his children shall at present be educated in Holland, that hot- bed of anti-British feeling. Dewet stands aloot from his comrades, a stubborn, vin- dictive character. The fact that ex-Presi- dent Steyn is spending his time on the continent and that his children are being educated by foreigners instead of In Eng- land seems to prove that he, like Botha, has no desire that his sons should be trained to love the British empire. . French forelgn policy, in cerain circum- stances, was the subject of a rather sensa- tional speech, which was delivered in the French Chamber the other day by Paul Deschanel, who formerly presided over the deputies, but has not been mctive in poll- tics for some time. There are a good many Frenchmen, he said, who believe that the true policy of the country was to organize ite existing possessions, not to prepare for fresh conquests. They wanted a policy of peace with dignity. There was, however, a vast difference between an aggressive policy and a policy of absolute renuncia- tion. Latterly there had been a mew pol- fcy by which France had been made the loser in Asta, Africa, Europe and the far east. According to this policy they were forbidden not only to speak, but even to think of the lost provinces, for fear of en- couraging a sentiment that might be dan- gerous. This course was not o fatcl to Chauvinism as it was to the finest aspira- tions of the purest patriotism. He bade them remember that the men who opposed Gambetta and Jules Ferry were the very men who surrendered Egypt to England and very nearly gave Bizerta to the triple alliance. The operations of the British Postofice Savings bank became so vast that the old headquarters in London were no longer adequate, &nd the bank was recently moved tc & more imposing and commo- dious building. This Is the third struc- ture buflt for the Institution since its foundation. The popularity of the Postoffice Savings bank system is shown by the statement that the numoer of depositors in 1880 was 2,185,000. In 1903 they number 9,000,000 The amount due depositors in 1880 was £33,750,000; in 1903, £145,000,000. The Postoffice Savings bank receives depos- its from Individuals, from a shilling to £50, in one year the total not to exceed £1,000, including interest. The British government 18 also engaged int the business of life insurance to a limited extent. An- nuities are granted on the life of anyone over b years old, and life insurances are granted to persons between 14 and 65 years of age. Children between § and 14 can be Insured for £6. The maximum limit of annuities and life insurance is £100. The Polish question was the subject of a more or less animated debate in the Prus: slan Diet the other day. The official esti- mate included about $330,000 for increase of salaries and premiums to schoolmasters and ofticials in the- Polish districts, and $750,4 000 for the establishment of garrisons in Schrimm and Wreschen, the ides being that military centers stimulate national teellng and loyalty. Herr Fritzen, a cler. jcal deputy, said that he had no doubt that the union of the Polish districts witt Prussia was final and insoluble, but he ald not think the government Was going at all the right way to work. All these bounties to schoolmasters and other officlals, he said, only made them the ab- jJect creatures of the central authorities, and added to the mistrust and irritation of the Poles. He doubted whether the im- perial palace at Strasburg had been of any practical use, and was not at all san- guine of the beneficlal effects of the royal | residence proposed at Posen. Count von Buelow, in reply, affected indignation at the idea that the government would at- tempt to exert any pressure upon the schoolmasters, and maintained that it was absolutely necessary to strengthen the German element in the eastern provinces by establishing German scttlements, main- talning a system of large and small pro- prietors, fostering the development of towns, and promoting the growth of a Ger- man middle class. ‘When the embassy now on its way from London to Teheran to present on behalf of King Bdward, to his great and good friend the Shah of Persia, the Order o the Garter, gets back to the British capital, it may be possible to sift the truth out of the many stories that have recently been circulated | conserning the shah's harem. Tho story ihat has most persistently gone the rounds | 1s to the effect that after his recent return | from Europe the Persian monarch was lm- bued with the spirit of reform and that he | weeded from his harem of 1,700 damsels no less than 1640. Each of these, the chronicler asserts, was given the sum . of $1,000, and they went out to be quickly | married, it being consiered a great honor to have & wife from the royal harem. That | the shah had a gay time in Paris and Berlin and Vienna and other citles of the continent is admitted, but that he became feminine frallty and his own weakness as the story indicated is | gravely doubted. On the other hand it is declared that no shah ever had so large | harem as 1,700 women, and even the | notorious Nasr-ed-Din, who approache Solomon nearer than any other, had but between 850 and 870 wives. The harem of the present shah, it is asserted, is a very modest one, containing not more than twenty or thirty women. Officlal reports of the French government on soclological matters are always very late, but whether they have any bearing on the question of France's dwindling pop- ulation or mot, these reports, as they re- late to the industrial work of women from 1866 to 1896, are still interesting. In 1866 there were 4,642,000 women workers in the republic, and in 1896 6,382,000. In com- merce 296,000 women were employed in 1896, as agalpst 158,000 in 1866, or one woman to two men. The increasing num- ber of women employed in the post, bank- ing, carrier trade and transportation b ness is still more striking, being from in 1866 to 164,000 in 1896, whilst in several independent callings the numbers have {ncreased nearly fourfold. It appears, too, {hat the trades and industries from which women are excluded are declining. Pt " 8o dismayed at WHAT WE BUY. Statement of Property Incladed in the Panama Canal Pareh: Brooklyn This government do over to the new French Panama company the eum of $40,000,000 without re- celving adequate retur Eagle. and concessions of the French concern is what our experts have decided the com pany is entitled to on account of what has actually been accomplis: tlon of & canal. It is estimated that the ex- cavation done on the route fs worth $27,000,000, while the Panama railroad stock °d In the construc- at par is worth almost $7,000,000. The maps, drawings and records of the com- pany are quoted at another $2,000,000, mak ing a little over $36,000000 fn all. To this an addition of 10 per cent has heen made to cover omissions, bringing the total up to a round $40,000,000 For this big sum of money the French- men will give to eur government other things about 30,000 which, with the lands belonging to rallroad company, cover nearly all ground required for the actual construe tion of the camal. Something like 2,3 bulldings will fall into the possession of our government on concluding the bargain, among them being offices, quarters, store- houses, hospitals, shops, stables and mis- cellaneous etructures. There is an immense amount of ma- chinery, consisting of a floating plant of tugs, launches, dredges and spare parts; rolling plant of locomotive cars, ete.; sta- tlonary and semi-stationary plant, including excavators, cranes and pumps. In addi- tion to all this there is a quantity of sur- veying and other instruments, office sup- plies and stationery, surgical and medical outfits and miscellaneous supplies cover- ing thousands of items, The official estimats of among land the acres of the time re- quired to complete the Panama canal fs | '* ten years and the estimated cost is $184,- not propose to turn | Canal This money 18 not to be glven as a payment for the rights | but the Fif'y Years the Standard Awar Highest Honors World's Falr Highest tests U.S. Gov't Chemlsts 0 PRIOE BAKING POWDER 0O, CHIcAGO A WISK JUDGE, Proprietary Rights in Circus Posters Judicially Uphe! Minneapolls Times Justice Holmes of the United States su- preme court has come bravely to the de- fense of the circus poster, He has de- clared, In a formal opinion, that the ple- tures of gauzily and abbreviatedly-clad fe- males on the show bills are as much en- titled to protection by copyright as any other work of art. When they are drawn order and printed in many colors at great expense, they should be the property 000,000. The Walker commisston thought | ©f the circus company wherever they may it would take eight years to bufld a canal | */CK, Whether on the side of a country at Nicaragua, with a greater probability | PAFD OF on @ clty billboard. — As property of oxigencles causing delay at this place | theY 8ro entitled to protection the same as than at Panama. maintenance and operation of the Panama canal fs $1,800,000 a year less proposed canal at Nicaragua. The Pan- ama route would be 134 miles shorter than the Nicaragua route from sea to sea, with fewer locks and less curvature, both in de- grees and miles. d The estimated time for deep draft ves- sels to pass through the Nicaragua canal was placed at thirty-three hours, as against twelve hours for Panama, these estimates being the time of actual navigation and not Including delays for winds, currents ot darkness. If the passage were made with- out interruption about a day could be saved by the Nicaragua over the Panama route by ordinary steamers handling commerce between our Pacific ports and all Atlantie ports, and about two days by steamera of the same class trading between our gult ports and North Pacific ports. The time advantage of the Nicaragua route would be | ™ less in the case of fast-powered steamers, the use of which fe increasing. Atlantic ports and the west coast of South America the Panama route has the ad- vantage of about two days, and between the gult ports and the west coast of South America the Panama route has the ad- vantage of about one day. The trade of the western coast of South America Is a very important one and has hitherto been chiefly in European hands. POLITICAL DRIFT. Oregon’s new senator answers to the name of Levi Ankeny. He hails from Walla Walla. There are sixty-one counties in New York te and only nine of them have demo- eratic sheriffs. A New York legislator who travels on a railrond pass is liable to forteiture of office. This will oblige the railroads to hand out prepaid tickets. Maine’s receipts from fees for the organ- ization of new corporations were nearly $100,000 last year. The corporation fees are doubling annually, Senator Matthew Stanley Quay is closing up his forty-sixth year as a public officer. A consultation of physicians is not neces- sary to determine that Matthew has the grip. Some members of the Pennsylvania leg- islature, in their haste to sell the $100 worth of stamps allowed to each of them by the state, accepted $87.50. Now the market price has risen to $97.50. The territorial debt of Arizona fs $2,700,- 000, of New Mexico $1,100,000 and of Okla- homa $527,000. The assessed valuation of these territories 1s: Arizona $65,000,000, New Mexico $36,000,000 and Oklahoma $75,- 000,000 Lee 8. Overman, the new senator from North Carolina, is 49 years old. He is a lawyer of ability, a native of Salisbury, and in 1874 graduated from Trinity college, North Carolina. He was private secretary to Governor Vance and has been a member of the state house of representatives five times, having been speaker once. A deteated candidate for office in Wiscon- sin, complying with the law respecting cam- paign expenses, filed an jtemized bill con- taining several specifications calculated to provoke a gob of sympathy from the de- feated. Listen to these significant items: “Expenses within two hours after receiving nomination, $24; organizing the Barta du Rudd club in the Third ward (I never saw the club), $5; seeing people and belng showed, $6.50; beer, ginger ale, brown pop, ete., $45; cigars, good, bad and Indifferent, | $20.~ Under the Massachusetts law the legisla- ture may interrogate the supreme court as to the constitutionality of proposed laws. | The system is exceedingly convenient and useful, and tends to prevent the passage of | bills of doubtful constitutional validity. A series of questions was recently addressed to the court by the house of representatives exist. One of the justices dissented. The estimated cost of than the Between | any cthor advertising device. 80 rules the court and so say we sl ot us. One of the sweetest pleasures of the springtime is the contemplation of the bright new circus bills. They are as wel- come as the dandelions and the cowslips. They cheer oney even as the chirp of the early robin cheers. They even seem to have a fragrance of their own—and perhaps they have if the paste Is sour—but be their perfume what it may, they give promise ot returning summer and that is sufficlent Let them be protected. We cannot all view the creations of the masters, but we can all see and enjoy the showbills and we want them defended so that they shall be better and brighter with each returning summer, LINES TO A LAUGH. That's a beautiful rug. May I ask how h it cost you?" Three hundred dollars’ worth of furni- ture to match it."—Chicago Tribune, | _Photographer—How was it that woman fefused to take her pictures? I'thought [ heard her say they looked like her. | _Clerk—It was her friend who sald that.— | N.Y. Herald. | Mrs. Henpeck—I read this morning about a man who was arrested twenty minutes after his wedding and sent to prikon for fifteen years. Isn't that awful? Mr. Henpeck—Oh, 1 don’t know. The law doesn’t compel him to take his wife to prison with him—Baltimore Herald. ‘What's the matter? What are you shiv- ng about?” demanded the firat rabbit. ‘There's a dude out there with a gun, replied the other. ““Well, he doesn't see us at all." He's aiming at some- Iphia Press. That's | thing else.”—Phila Harry—You ‘and best of friends. Dick—Why shouldn't we be? We nevér say what we think of each other.—Boston Transcript. m_appear to ba the Merchant—Did gentleman wante New Clerk—No, but I found out what he didn't want— Merchant—What? How dare you— New Clerk—And 1 sold it to him.—Phila- delphia Catholic Standard. Jou find out what that u need, my dear sir, s exercise."” ? Why, doctor, I'm the floor- a big department store!™ I Know ‘it | repeat It, sir: what you need is exerclse.'—Chicago Tribune. “They, student.” “He has to be; T don't allow him but a dollar a month spendin’ money."'—Cleveland ¥lain Dealer. tell me your son is a close “I tell you," sald the proprietor of the mountaln resort hotel, ““there's no life like that in the mountains, It's good living in this glorious alr. ] 'guess there Is a good living for you in thls air,” replied the disgruntled guest. “That's about all you appear to feed to your guests.”—Philadelphia Press. Fadds—A dentist ought to have a regular trajning as a physician, Fidds (with a dentist’s bill for $50 in his ocket)—Oh, 1 don’t know. They seem to Know how pretty well as it fs. A dentist can generally pull # man's leg as well he can pull his teeth, and quite as well as a surgeon.—N. Y, Sun. WESTERN BLOOD. Jullet W. Tompkins in Scribner's, My tower faces south and north, And east it opens wide, But not & window-pane 1ooks forth Upon the western side. I gaze out north on city roofs, And south on city smoke, And to the east aro throbbing hoofs, The rush of city folk But not a ray of western light Moy (<!l across my w vce opens to the night Where western eyes may lurk d days are spent In quest ity things, n the little birds fly west, I would not hear thelr wings But they who once have climbed the Tows When daylight lingered Jate, And watched the wostern sun go down Athwart the burnished Gate, And felt the rolling fogs descend, | respecting a bill giving cities and towns the And se the luy blown | right to establish municipal coal yards ana | (And know: what things a western frieno to sell coal. The full bench sent in the| o offer s his ow reply. It was held that only in times of | Ah, they can mever still. for long— extraordinary exigency does such a right | He Knows what would be best Who bullt my to: And closed it to the we 1 strong, filled with Clothing and your wants and of us at ¥ Down to Shooting. Aet: Chicago Chronicle, Int-liigence from Honduras is to the ef- fect taat & civil War 18 in progress, but the proceedings indicate that it is really an un- civil war. At least the opposite factions are shooting at each other just like the participants 1n the recent ‘“peaceable” blockade down in Venezuela. There ap- pears to be & good deal of confusion in the L use of agjectives 1o these matters. economy will lead your ous signs showing as they do the reductions on our “own make” of splendid clothing ought at this . season to be a great inducement for you. NO CLOTHING FITS LIKE OURS, | Browming e 5@ Furnishings, and ponder- Think of the same moment. Thus | footsteps hither. i RS, Wilcox, Mgr. A