Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, June 26, 1903, Page 6

THE OMAHA DAILY BEE. | E. ROSEWATER, EDITOR PUBLISMED EVERY MORNING. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. Dally Bee (Without SBunday), Une Yeor..34. Jally Bee &nd Sunday, One Year. Jlustrated Bee, One Yeari......... Bunday Bes, Orle Year . Baturday Bde, One Year. wo gaiesEes Twentleth Century Farmer, One Year.. DELIVERED BY CARRIER. Dally Bee (without Sunday,, per copy.... gl“! Beo (without Sunday ), per week.. 13c aily Bee (ncluding Sunday), per week..17c Bunday Bee, per cop gieszsessise 33 vening Bee (without Sunday), per week. 6c veuing Hee (Including Sunday), per Complainis of irreguiaritics in delivery be addreased to City Circulation De- shouls partment. PR OFFICES. maha-The Bee Bullding. Bouth Ommha—city Hail Bulldiog, Twen- ty-Nfth and M Streets. Councl Blufte—io Pearl Streot. Chicago— Jnity Bul Ing. How Sorkesmm bark How Bullaing. Washington—501_ Fourteenth Stree QORRESPONDENCE. Communigations relating to news and edi- torial matter should be addressed: Omaha Bee, Rditorial Department. REMITTANCES. Remit by draft, express or postal order, yable to The Bee Publishing Company. nly 2-cent pamps accepted in payment of @il accounts, Fersonal checks, except, on maha or eastern exchanges, not ac b Bl PUBTISRING COMPANTY. . (! ¥ 2. 1 1 BTAT) [ENT OF CIRCULATION. Btate of Nebraska, Douglas Counl?' 880 George B. Taschuck, secretary of The Bee Publishing Company, belus duly sworn, says that the actual number of full and complete coples of The Daily, Morning Evening and Sunday Beo printed during the month of May, 1903, was as follows 27,776 180,440 80,870 SEBNERBEBENEEE " ‘Total Less unsold and returned coples. Net total sales. .. Net uverage sales. I GEORG! Subscribod In my presence and sworn to before e this Sist day of May, A D, 1900, 4’8, HUNGATE, (Beal.) Notary Public. Tle lust days of Leo XIII, the great- est of all the popes, are plainly upon us. We tear the Iowa democratic platform wiil not be very popular in the office of tlie Commoner. The diploma controversy has given the Omaha High school principal a good deal of unenviable notoriety. When it comes to “Grandstand Virtue” the popocratic organ knows how to play the game for pgpocratic officeholders. S The State . Library commission may have to put its home on wheels and make the circuit with its traveling lbraries. King Peter evidently thought that by wearing a grave look during his in4 augural eeremony he would avold- look: ing iInto his grave prematurely. With so much money fiying around loose in the vieinity of Missourl legl latures the only wonder s that anyof the lawmakers escaped uncorruptedi The Advisory board, converted into a health boargd, has advised cows running at large to ‘mend their behavior and run at small U. -F. A (until' further advised). Firing proclamations at . glant. fire- crackers before the Fourth of July-is a harmless amusement unless the procla- mations are rigidly enforced on the day of jubllee, Bravado Tillman, who shet down a de- fenseless editor, ‘will get a change of venue. That ought notto interfere, however, with him gettfng his Just deserts no matter where he may be tried. It the legislatura contemplated the erection of a Nebraska building at St. Louis when it made the exposition ap- propriation it certainly would have set aside more than $35,000 for that pur- pose. i————— Russia enjoys the distinction of hav- ing ajone among nations participated of- ficially in the installation of King Peter of Servia, In this, however, Russia will rouse no invidious sentiments among the powers. Sre———— Mrs. Helen Gougar has compromised her clalm against the state popocratic reform gommittee for:spouting in the late natlonal campaign, but the reform- ers have not yet discovered where they got thel® money’s worth. EpE———— The Chlcago Live Stack, exchange pre- tends to haye discoyered that Omaha is belug fayored.by: the railroads'in the matter df Mve stock rmtes. Nobody, .in Omaha has ben awhré that. the rail. roads were giving us gq best of1t. And nbw another of the disciples of Carrle Nation hag been rewarded with WISE MEBN GRANGE. . The refusal of the lowa democratic stnte convention to reafirm the exploded fallacies of the Kansas City platform forcibly recalls the response of Stephen A. Douglas to the, question propounded to him at one of the great popwiar gath- erings during the natigom) eampnign of 1860 why he had shifted position on the squatters’ soverelgnty. | ‘“‘Wide , men change, fools never,” was the ferse re- sponse of the little glant, who was then the idol of the northern democracy. The Iowa democracyihns evidently changed on the paramotit lesue of, free stiver coinage st the ratfo of 16.to.1 be- cause 1t Is convinced that it would.be as foolbardy to stand up for free coinage as it would to butt its head against a solid wall. Every intelligent observer of changed conditions must concede that free coinage as A political issue Is as dend as pro-slavery or anti-masonry. Wise men change, but fools pride them- selvés on consistently standing rooted to the same spot while the world is mov- ing by. There {8 no prospect that the Towa democrats will come within 50,000 of electing anybody on thelr state ticket, but thelr pronounced averglon to worship the silver fetich proves that they are no longer willing to play the part of the man who planted himself in the middle of the rallroad track in the face of an approaching locomotive. Sp—— MONEY IN THE WEST. A good deal of interest is being mani- fasted in the question as to whether the west will have sufficlent. money in the coming autumn to take care of the | western crops and it seems that the matter is being seriously considered in eastern financial circles. An eastern paper says- that some forecasts of a financial nature indicate that within a few weeks the demands made upon New York for money to handle the crops will be the largest upon record and it i therefore assumed that there must be some diminution of cash resources in the west, especially as western loans made in the east are not so great as has been the case in other years. It appears, however, from the last re- port of. the comptroller of the currency. that the chief financial centers repre- senting the west—that is the financial reglon this side of the central states— have on deposit almost $220,000,000, a figure which New York wounld have not much more than matched only a few years ago. It therefore appears that money is plentiful in the west and ac- cording to the statistics is' being used to ‘good profit, since the banks which are made the basis of comparison re- port unusual individual profits. The question of a currerity supply in the west a couple of months hence Is engaging the very earnest attention.of eastern financlers and it is certainly a matter of very great Interest in this séction. The Indications are that we shall need a -greater amount of cur- rency than ever beforp to move the western crops and where it is to come from ‘i certainly a matter of ne ordi- nary importance. According to reports, the western ,banks are already prepar; ing for.the demand which they know will be made upon’ them. The st re- port to the comptroller of the currency showed that the banks of the west gen- erally had: been: improving;their condi- tion inthe matter of reserves and were at.that time particularly strong. There 18 good reason to belleve that they are still stronger now. . At all-events this fact seems to be very clearly defined at this time, that the west during the coming summer will be quite uble to take care of itself, so far as the movement of the crops is concerned, and also to provide all the meney that may be needed to take care of .its other legitimate industries. As we pointed out some time ago, upon the authority of facts and figures which were indisputable, the west ‘s today practically independent 'jn a financial way of the east, so far as its legitimate requirements -are concerned, and there i8 every probablility that'it will con- tinue In that position, at least so long as it is vouchsafed good crops. The fact that the west has been withdraw- ing its money from the east is the best possible assurance of western financial independence. Sm——— THE 10WA DEMOORATS. Ordinarily it is of little consequence what the democrats of Iowa fhink In regard to public questions. For years the party in that state-has.been.so.ab- solutely at variance with the sentiment ofthe -country on evefly great question. and as a result has been overwhelmingly repudiated, that very little serious atten- tion is given anywhexe so{what.the posi- tion and -the: declarations’ of! fiie demo- crats of Iowa may be. There is not in any state of the union!a pélitical ‘body with less coherence and consisteney than the democracy of lown. For years that party.has been battling with jtself and it is doing that now. Nowhere ‘in the country Is there a stponger,example of & jail sentence for indwiging ina siloon denjocrafic difference $han is to be found heteteting excursion, That is douBtless what thé younug -wowmah set out to get nod -lm' ught not to be disappointed. ——— According ‘to ~ Assbelated Press dis- patches, the derhoeratic state ticket in Towa was quickly nowinated. That is not out jof the ordimary, however. A ticket ddomdd to defeat very rarely en- counters’ any opposition in a political in the party in‘Iowa, of which the con- vention of chnofl‘r furnished an ex- cellent luktrgtion. =" " 8o far as politics In Towa ts concerned the views and declaegtions of. the demo- crats in that state are of no donsequence. Republican victory there is assured. But there 18 some sighificance to the attitude of the lowa democrats in its bearing upon national politles. The plitform con\'vlm.bu. —r—— Hnnlmfy conditions in Manila are im- proving right along under American su- pervision just as the sanitary conditions in Havana were revalutionized during Amerlcan occupation. The Spanish au- thorities. did not have the resources to undertake the necessary work and could not have done it properly had they had the reources. American sanitary en- gineers and American medical scientists are proving equal to the most difficult tasks the whole world over, 4 adopted hy the state convention will give some encouragement to the reorganiza- tion ‘movement. It ignores absolutely the Kansas City platform and while recognizing some cf the doctrines of Bryanism, is by no means an endorse- ment of the “peerless leader.”. whose name, by the way, was not mentioned. It is needless e state- ments of the Tows flerp blutform, which are generally disp: events I fumiliar to everyody.: r-minded reader of that declaration of principies will find in almost every line a state- THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: ment which the most casual investiga tion will show him to be absolutely in contravention of facts. There Is not a single plank in the platform that is not vulnerable. From the first to the last line of this deliverance there {8 manifest the wenakness of the democratic position, which I8 simply that of objection and opposition, without any statesmanlike or substantinl propositions for a change. The Towa democrats, like those in every other part of the country, are able to point out wherein the republican party has been wrong, but they are utterly barren of sound suggestions as to what should be done. They deal In platitudes and generalities which are utterly futile and ineffective. So far as they have cut loose from Bryanism the Iowa democrats are to be congratulated and the example they have get in this respect will undoubtedly have a good Influence upon the party at iarge. It is to be regretted that they did not. show equal judgment in other re- spects, A GREAT RESPONSIBILITY. The taxpayers of Omaha are vitally concerned in the outcome of the railroad tax controversy now pending in the fed- eral courts. The contention of the al- Hed railroand corporations that the city has no right to impose municipal taxes upon ‘their terminals in the city of Omaha above the valuation fixed by the state board on a mileage basis must be combated at every step untll a final de- clslon 1s reached by the supreme court of the United States. . In view of the fact that the railroads have at their command the ablest cor- poration lawyers that can be brought into service it behooves the city to be represented by men of the highest abil- ity and widest experience. While the city attorney will be the chief legal rep resentative of the city, it becomes im- perative to employ an assistant of equal, or rather of much greater special ability for the pending cases, unless we want to make a farce of the whole proceeding and give the city's case away. Manifestly, a great responsibility rests upon the mayor and council in the ap- pointment of the proposed assistant. No man should be considered in this con- nection unless he has had large experi- ence in corporation and especially in tax cases In the highest courts of the na- tion. The city of Omaha cannot afford to jeopardize its rights in the hands of any inexperienced lawyer as a matter of personal favoritism or as a political favor. In other words, the man to as- sist the city attorney in the railroad cases must be a lawyer of the first mag- nitude and not of the third or fifth mag- nitude—otherwise the city might as well abandon the suit altogether. The University of Wisconsin ghounld at once be moved to Milwaukee. One of the members of the party of German agriculturists who have been touring the United States declares that while they find much that is admirable in American colleges and universities they are handi- capped by a fatal drawback—the lack of beer, which would inspire the students in the same degree as those at the Ger- man universities. If we really welcome foreign criticism of our institutions, we should certainly accept this advice in the spirit in which it is offered and make the experiment to see if it offers the real remedy. Give the beer that made Milwaukee famous a chance to make a famous university. Bond buyers n’lwnn manage to find some flaw In mortgage securities before taking, but after taking these securities become gilt-edged whenever proposals are made to take them up before matuar- ity. That explains why South Omaha High school bonds that would command a premium of 4 per cent under ordinary conditions are promptly decried as un- desirable because the margin of majority by which they were carried 18 small, 1f the margin had been quadrupled bond investors would have easily discovered other flaws to justify low bids. The Board of Public Works and park commission should organize themselves into an improvement club and pass reso- lutions to proceed with public improve- ments as fast as injunctors will let them and the city councll puts money at their disposal. Eme————— They Never Will Know. Chicagd News. Those people who still think that Grover Cleveland would take the nomination if it were offered to him will never find out whether they are right or not. The Colonel Wants to Know. Loutsville Courler-Journal. The Kansas bullding at the World's fair is to be surmounted by-the figure of a woman carrying a sickle. What state will do honor to the old-fashioned woman carry- ing a sickle? On the Tobogxan, ‘Washington Post. J. A. Edgerton has issued a call for a conference of populist leaders, to be held at Denver on July ZI. To properly appre- clate this, it must be remembered that Mr. Edgerton s a joke writer on & Denver newspaper. A Slight Overcharge. Philadelphia Press. According to John Mitchell, the labor leader, the man who has brought sult against him for $200,000 for counsel fees will have to throw off $199,950 before he will get anything. What is left after that won't pay the expenses of.a suit. ‘Where Sympathy is Wasted. Chicago Inter Ocean. One of our German agricultural visitors has expreased the opinion that the Ameri- can farmer is a slave because he works hard. Yet the American farmer is not com- plaining that his Industry is unprofitable, nor beseeching his government for speclal favors, as his German critic is “A Grotesque Farce. Kansas City Star. The ery for harvest hands which Kansas has raised is a demand for help which can be- made without casting the slightest re- flection on that commonwealth But a state that is compelled to call in outside force to harvest its crops should never countenance the grotesque farce of passing the hat COMPETITION WE MUST MEET. British Market for Food Stuffs Sought by Other Nations. New York Tribune, The United States is still the chief foreign source of Great Britain's food supply. Nevertheless, as we have shown, other sources are being developed and are in- oreasing their contributions to the British market much more rapidly than is this country. Canada, for example, is sending to the mother country more and more wheat each year, and Australia is sending thither large quantities of meat. Nor are the British colonfes our only competitors. Argentine and other South American coun- tries have entered the field with much suc- coss. Thus in the first quarter of the present year Argentine sent to Great Britain more than $320,00 worth of live cattle for food. That was a small amount compared with our $5,000,000 or more in the same period But it was a good beginning, Argentine having sent none at all in 1%2 and 1%01, while our own exports in these three years have been steadily and considerably de- clining. The same may be sald of ex- ports of live sheep, of which Argentine in the first quarter of this year sent more than $100,000 worth, against our $370,00 worth, the latter a much small amount than in efther of the two preceding years. Argentine sales of wheat in the same three months were nearly $4,000,000, or more than one-fourth of what our own had falllen to; its sales of Indlan corn wers more than $850,000; of fresh beef, $3,000,000, or mearly one-third of ours, and of tresh mutton more than $3,000,00. In other lines of goods, too, Argentine is making progress. In the same three months it sent to Great Britain be- tween two and three times as much tallow and stearine as we did, towit, more than $650,000 worth, and more than ten times much linseed, or $1,600,000 worth, Such progress in the British markets made by Argentine fs not in the least sur- prising, seeing how great are the natural resources and productiveness of that coun- try, and seeing, moreover, how grievously the United States has neglected to culti- vate commerclal intimacy with it and its South American neighbors. ROOSEVELT AND RASCALITY, President No Man to Temporise with OMcial Corruption, ‘Washington Post. It 18 unfair at this stage of the case to obscure the lssues involved In the post- office situation by references to practical party politics, Nor is it altogether wise. President Roosevelt has never in all his career been known to tolerate crookedness. His entire course as a public official has been a plea for decency, honesty and open- ness. As civil service commissioner he helped to strengthen the foundations of the great merit system, despite the clamor of political spollsmen. As New York police commicsioner he insisted upon the enforce- ment of the laws, whatever might be the political cost. As assistant secretary of the navy he strove constantly for good ad- ministration. As a soldler he was a strict dieciplinarian. As governor of New York he held to a high standard and secured the passage of wholesome laws even against the protests of the party leaders. As presi- dent he has already proved his abflity to choose the right course even though the wrong one may be easler. Party expediency, theréfore, has no part in' his estimate of the'duty which the un- savory condition of the postal department imposes upon the administration. If the probe touches diseased spots in the body politic then it is wise tp cut them out. It individuals are invdiVed whose present high status in the répiblican party sug- gests that they shouklibe shielded from scandal, a temporizing: policy will not al- lay suspiclon. The individuals who have woven around themselves 'and thelr as- soclates a net of wrongdolng and un- principled procedure can be of little perma- nent benefit to any party If thelr success and that of the party must depend upon the concealment of thefr corruption. S PERSONAL NOTES. The czarina of Russia has just completed her thirty-first year. The prosecuting attorney of Breathitt county Is golng to remove to Winchester and the sheriff is golng to return to his old home on Troublesome Creek. Sir James Guthrie, youngest living artlst to win a title on his artistic merits, is 44 years old and was recently elected presi- dent of the Royal Scottish academy. Ex-Congressman F. M. Eddy, who may be a candidate for governor of Minnesota, used to be called the homellest man -in the house at Washington and didn't get angry There 18 no end to ‘present prosperity sand dollars’ worth of dlamonds now have million-dollar estates bequeathed to them. General A. W. Greely, chief signal officer of the United States army, has signed a contract with & cable company of New York for the construction of a submarine cable to connect, Beattle, Wash., with Sitka, Alaska. After o lapse of sixty-six years a memorial stone has just been placed over the grave of the late Cardinal Manning's wite, in Lavington churehyard, Sussex, England. She dled before her husband joined the Catholic Church. Richard Strauss, who s by many au- thorities regarded as the greatest of If ing German composers, completed his thirty-ninth year last week. When 17 years old he penned a symphony. His wife was Pauline de Ahna, a well known opera singer. The American Invaslon has reached the vast iron deposits of Lapland which Mr. Scitvab and his assoclates are reported to be negotiating for. By the people of Sweden this deal will be regarded as a rank steal, but the ironmasters appear to be masters of the situation. Carrle Jennings, an Oklakoma City girl, is to have a great celebration of her twentieth birthday, which comes on July 4. Bhe is the daughter of a Scotch father and an English mother and was born on an English vessel flying the American flag while crossing the Irish sea Judge Harlan and wite of Bavannah, Mo., aged $8 and S respectively, are on a tour of Ohlo and Indiana visiting relatives and triends whom they have not seen for many years. The judge claims to be about the oldest 1iving ex-congressman, having re- presented an Indiana district In the early 'W's. The French ambassador, M. Jusserand, has accepted an invitation from the com- missioners of the District of Columbia to deliver an address at the celebration there on July 4 and will remain In Washington for that purpose. Secretary Willlam H Moody will also be one of the speakers on that occasion. Ex-Senator Mason, who attributes his late defeat for re-election to Governor Yates of Illinois, when in Burlington, .a few days ago, was asked what his plans for the future were, and answered char- acteristically: “I am going back to Chi- cago to do a little law, @ little politics and & man named Yates.' King Edward commanded that in fu- ture his traveling escort of household cav- alry shall consist of one officer, one cor poral major, two corporals of horse, and twenty-six troopers. The traveling escorts for the queen and the prince of Wales are to consist each of one officer, two corporals of horse and twelve Lroopers, | Bristow saya: investigate when we get through with the Chorus girls who used to lose a few thou- | FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1908. STANDARDS OF SOBRIETY. Sets Up a Se Some Innocents, New York Tribune. There ia trouble for tipplers In Boston The new chairman of the Metropolitan P lice commission has established new stand ards of sobriety; or perhaps we should say of Inebriety. Henceforth it will not be necessary, In order to get ‘run in,’ for a Bostonian to become aggressively and con spicuously “drunk and disorderly.” Ser- pentine ambulation and alcoholic exhale- ments—to express it Boston-wise—wiil do the trick just as well. It is obligatory upon the police to arrest every man who cannot walk straight and whose breath is flavored with Intoxicants. Wherefore there s a wild demand for coffee beans and lovage root, and also for nabs and carrlages; despite which the number of arrests ad: vances by leaps and bounds, and there is much demand for enlarged accommodations in the police stations and city prison. It will doubtless be urged by some that this is going too far in the direction of old- style Puritanism. A man should be as free to perfume his breath with a distillation of rye grains as to perfume his pocket hand- kerchief with a distillation of rose leaves. Moreover, there are various bona fide medi- cines which leave a distinct alcoholic trace upon the breath. Agaln, while it is true that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points, it may also be that at times a man does not want to take the shortest cut, but for the sake of exercise, or to enjoy the scenery longer, or for some other equally satisfactory reason, prefers to meander hither and thither on the way. Why should he not have that privilege? There is much in such contentions of which the police and magistrates of Boston should surely take account. On the other hand, It is evident that there must be some line drawn between the sober and the inebriate, and it should be drawn well on the side of safety. It s not right to wait until a man falls into the gutter and cracks his pate, or gets run over, or develops delirlum tremens, before adjudging him drunken. He ought to be apprehended before he is so far gone as to injure himself or imperil others. Just what the standard should be it would be difficult to say. If that prescribed In Boston is somewhat too strict, we may doubt if it Is to be enforced in its full strictness. The alignment of some of the streets in Boston 1s such as to make the average policeman pretty tolerant of anyons who traverses arcs instead of chords, and the character- i8tio reserve, not to say hauteur, of Trimon- tane citizens will aurely restrain them from too Intimately Investigating each other's breaths. Boston will be sober even in esti- mating the kilowatts of inebriety. e that May Cateh WISDOM OF THE PRESIDENT. Plain, Old-Fashioned Honesty Shocks Some of the Politicians. Philadelphia North American. Doubtless the protessional politicians ¥ho think they manage the republican party are beginning to get it through their heads that it 1s futile to attempt to smother the postoffice scandal by representing to Presi- dent Roosevelt that exposure of all the rascals will hurt the party. They are quite correct in their argument that whatever hurts the party is peculiarly injurious to the political fortunes of the president. He is the party's most conspicuous representa- tive and must bear the brunt of any gen-'| eral attack made upon it by the people. He will be its candldate, the head of its ticket, and serfous Injury to the party means his defeat. He wants to be president for a full term, but he does not want the office 80 badly that he is willing to condone official rascality to get it. v The difference between President Roose- velt and the machine politicians is not merely one of opinion; it s a difference in character and habit of thought.' The mere machine politician thinks first of the dis- credit which may be cast upon his party by exposure of its rascals and hastens to cover up corruption lest the enemy make use of it to the disadvantage of his party In a campaign. President Roosevelt regards the existenop of corruption as the discreditable thing, and his first thought is to make his administration and his party deserving of credit by glving the country clean govern- ment and honest service. Exposure of all the rottenness in the postal service may hurt many republican politiclans, but thorough, rigorous prose- cution of faithless public servants cannot hurt the party. It is evident that Mr. Eristow and his assistant investigators are acting under orders from the president to 80 to the bottom of things and leave noth- ing for the opponents of the party to dig up and make ammunition of later. It is President Roosevelt speaking when Mr. “There won't be anything to department. The political effect of this in- vestigation 18 something that has not been thought of. Our only concern now is to make thorough work and clean up the de- partment, and we shall do it.” Political diplomatists and experts in ma- nipulation shake their heads dolefully and deplore the rash impulsiveness of the man at the head of the party, but he is wiser than the shrewdest of them, and his wis- dom fs just plain, old-fashioned honesty, ISTOL BUSINESS, Another Earnest Protest Against Fireworks Foolishness. San Francisco Chronicle. It 1s Impossible to concelve why the thorities do not put an end to the toy pistol business in this city at once and for- ever. To permit the irresponsible children of silly and reckless parents to endanger the lives of all about them is to become personally responsible for the consequences. Where the power s there is and must rest the responsibility. The city authorities can prevent the use of these deadly toys in this clty. and they do not. Therefore they must bear the blame for all accident. It is unfortunate that they cannot recelve the missiles in thelr own persons Instead of thelr finding lodgment in innocent by’ standers. It is- more than two weeks to the Fourth of July and the hospitals are already recelving thair harvest au- fine beginning for tion." Why, in this twentieth century, we should continue these barbaric methods of “cele brating” s - beyond comprehension. We know in advance that a certain number of persons will be killed in this country on or about the dth day of July, and that milions of dollars worth of property will be burned, entirely as the result of using fireworks in large cities, If the people know this and permit the performance to go on, are w not all participants in the crimes of mur- der and arson? If we knew just which persons were doomed to die by these means. and precisely whose property was destined to the flames, we should unquestionably surround the endangered persons and prop- erty and forbid the shooting of firecrackers and pistols anywhere In the vicinity. Why, since we can not in advance pick out the victims, should we not protect everybody? We laugh at the tom-toms and firecrac of the Chinese as evidence of thelr stupid barbarity. But it is as stupid and barbar ous to shoot off firecrackers in dangerous places tn honor of “Independence” as it is to shoot them in honor of a heathen joss. The senseless performance should no more be permitted In this city on the Fourth of July than on any other day. our annual ‘“celebra- Two boys | in one day at the Emergency hospital is a BITS OF WASHINGTON LIFE, Minor Scemes and Incldents Sketehed on the Spot. The bureau of corporations of the new Department of Commerce is ready to begin practical operations with the beginning of the fiscal year on Wednesday next. Com- missioner Garfield is having complled a roster of corporations engaged In interstate occupations or business, or In any way eligible to classification in the archives of the bureau. It is recognized that the scope of the bureau invades relations and pur- suits that have hitherto been exempt from any surveillance from federal officials, and the apprehension that there might oeccur sensitiveness and annoyance at the idea of governmental interference has served to quality carefully the Interrogatories that have thus far been addressed to the ofcers of corporations. The government is already in possession of a large amount of information which it will be the business of the new bureau to secure and classify. Care will therefore be taken not to duplicate inquiries from cor- porations, and the information recelved will be verified by comparison with that | gained through other official channels. Three corporations, the Steel trust, the New York Life Insurance company and the Mutual Life Insurance company, have made reports of thelr organization, capital and business. The bronze statue on the capitol dome, known as the Statue of Freedom and which is sometimes incorrectly called the Goddess of Liberty, is recelving a thor- ough cleansing, reports the Washington Btar. A scaffold has been erected about the status, which work was accomplished with much difficulty, the two workmen who bullt it belng obliged to use the utmost care. They were working at a height of 367 feet and had only narrow four-inch ledges to move around on. It was intended to clean the statue wifh pumice stone, but it was found that this process brightened the statue considerably, and it was decided to thoroughly clean off the green coating with a weak acid solution and then give it a coat of lacquer. The statue has withstood the weather remarkably well, the seams where the different sections were joined being as firm as they were when the statue was built. When the workmen first ascended the statue it was found that lightning had struck it in numerous places, the metal being melted and fused and the surface of the bronze deeply furrowed. In some places the metal has been gouged out by the electric bolt and projects like spikes. A correspondent of the Btar, in a letter printed last Saturday, related an inter- esting ineldent which attended the com- pletion of the statue December 2, 1863, when the last section of the figure was hoisted into place. The correspondent stated that there was among the work- men an Intensely patriotic sallor, named Sanders or Saunders, who kept insisting as the work went on that there should be some means provided for displaying a flag above the statue. His fellow work- men considered it a good joke, but on the eventful day of eompletion they were horri- fied to see him deliberately climb to the shoulders of the statue and drawing a flag from his bosom stand erect and fiing its starry folds to the breeze. To the crowd below the sallor was but a plgmy, and his flag looked no bigger than a handkerchief, but the cheers tbat rose to him on his dizzy perch told him his act as appre- clated. It is Interesting to know that the statue was completed on the anniversary of the execution of John Brown at Charlestown, Va. (now West Virginia), which occurred in December, 169, There is perhaps no elevator in the world more exclusive than that provided at the capitol for the supreme court of the United States. That elevator can be used by ex- actly eleven people, and no one else would for a moment consider entering it except as the guest of one of these eleven privi- leged gentlemen. The fortunate eleven are the nine justices of the United States su- preme court, the clerk and the marshal of the court. The elevator goes from the &round floor of the capitol to the main floor, on which s located the supreme court of the United States. It is a small elevator, 80 that, with its conductor, three portly forms of justices of the supreme court of the United States would fill it. It {s one of the very latest designs of electric style. The interesting thing about this exclusive ele- vator s the fact that the justices, wedded ag they are to past customs, have not yet got out of their habit formed before the new elevator ‘was put in place, of golng from the ground to the maln floor by means of the senate elevator. Secretary Root and Representative Wil- llam P. Hepburn of Towa met in the corri- dor of the War department the other day, relates the Post, and a very Interesting con- versation' occurred hetween them. It was shortly after the return of the president from his great western tour, end some com- ment was being made upon the wonderful performance and the way the president had stood the wear and work of the journey. “He has certainly set a pace that will be hard to follow,” remarked the secretary. “The limitations upon men for public o fices grow -more and more cireumacribed,” sald Hepburn. “It is become so now that only a-young man can be president, only a rich man ambassador and only a very patriotic man a cabinet officer.” The last tribute was to Secretary Root, as it 1s well known in Washington that he re- mains In the cabinet at the earnest solicita- tion of 'h- rresident and at the sacrifice of his perscn-] interests. The secretary then related soroe of therdificulties and annoy- ances of ling a cabinet office, which everybody here has come to recognize as a part of the goncral scheme of government. Finally, Hepburn suggested that perhaps Mr. Root did much more hard work as a cabinet officer than he would in the prac- tice of law, and the secretary was inclined to think that he had worked as hard at his profession in his office, but the conditions w e different. “The work of a cabinet officer is never finished,”” he said, “and T know that while I am doing my work today I am at the game time responsible for everything that oceurred iri the department in the past, and T also know that all I do now is subject to serutiny In the future. I know that con- gress will call for the record and that it will become public And be scrutinized. It is a good thing, too, a very good thing, that our bustness 8 conducted on that basis. It makes every officer more careful.” FOR THE SECOND PLACE. ort of Man Needed to Run with Roowevelt, Pittshurg Chronicle-Telegraph. With the presidential nomination settled in advance, the nominee for vice president must be a man of national consequence—one known to the whole people and approved by more than looal sentiment. The people will demand this through their delegates. He must be, In fact, such a man as the people would choose for president. The importance of the vice presidency is measurably in- creased in the public estimation by the cir- cumstance that public attention s not di- verted from it by st for first place. The office is therefore rded much as it ought to be, ‘and the man selected by the a con inated Roosevelt. With the qualities named the nomines must also be in harmony with Roosevelt and ready to co-operate with him in the carrying out of administration poll cles, as Roosevelt co-operated with Mc- Kinley and as Hobart did. Bince the people have already In effect made the nomination for president, wisdom must be shown in the selection of his yoke-fellow on the na- tional ticket. —ee OUT OF THE ORDINARY. As candy-eaters and Amerfcans rank first. The higest tower in the world, 760 feet high, will be erected at the Central station tn New York City. The cure of rheumatism by bee stings 18 sald by a Vienna physiclan to have been successtul in 500 cases. Any housewife can tell i the milkman fs using formaliln as a presorvative by setting an uncovered bottls of milk In a warm place. If it 4oes not turn sour some- thing is wrong with it On the army this year we shall spend 0,000,000 on the navy, 85,000,000, The civil establishment will cost $126,000,000, To the Indians we 3 §13,000,000. The interest on t) will be $7,- 000,000, The Baldhead Bund of Bayonne, N. J., 18 a recently formed organization of el derly Germans who used to get thelr hair cut, but whose hair has latterly been cut- ting them. Here's wishing they may enjoy many a comio opera treat together. Little Claire Circle of Springfleld, O., has ten lving grandparents, and it is thought that there may be a couple more in Fng- 1and who escaped the count. All the grand- parents live at Springfleld, so Claire s in & falr way to have what she wants. There I8 a negro murderer named Smith out in Multnomah eounty, Oregon, who is certainly a stickler for his prefudices There 18 a strike in the county, and Smith objects to being executed on the énly gal- lows in existence on the ground that it was buflt by “scabs.’* John Ransom, a well-to-do farmer of Hu- ron county, Ohfo, made his Will many yesrs ago, providing that his body should cremated and the ashes strewn along the raflroad track. He died last week and h wishea were carried out In a modified way the ashes being scattered over the, farm where he had lived more than half a cen tury. Among the curlous devices to be seen in the United States patent office s one for exploding bombs high in the alr to pro- duce rain; another raises and tips the hat when the wearer bows; another puts on overcoats, and another lets down a key just In time for the milkman and draws it up again after he has put the milk inside the door. Ernest Legouve, who recently celebrated his ninety-seventh birthday, was asked to what he attributed his long life and good health. “No cares, no ennui, no sorrows that's one reason of my good health” he replied. “But that is not enough. The body must be kept elastic and for ‘this reason we must walk, play billlards, and, above all, fence. For me fencing is 'tho ideal exercise.” water-drinkers SMILING REMARK:! Don't supposs Adam ever called Eve his “‘ {’lue apple dumpling."—Philadelphia Bul- etin, Estelle—Ah! a dream. Agnes—Well, you ought to know,dear, you've been dreaming of that proposal for years!—Town and Country. His proposal was just. like Most of us am philosopher ‘nuff to expect & pain occasionally, but what makes us'‘mad am dat It allus comes in de wrong place.— Detroit Free Press. “Mis'ry like uomf’ny. don't 117" ““Yes, but w'en 1 ses it comt day I don't feel sociable. tution. , dat's de Atiania Consti- . *“Does it cost much to lve in the city? asked the rural youth. “About the same as it costs to live in the country,” replied the village sage, “but it costs 1ike fury to keep Up appearances.’ —Chicago News. “‘'Tis love that makes the world go round,’ " quoted the very young man who was beginning to have symptoms. “But it hasn't got a monopoly on the revolution business,” rejoined the bachelor who was carrying weight for age.” “A limited quantity of barrel-house trouble juice will produce a similar effect.”’—Chi- cago News. ‘I hope you won't take offense, Miss " said Stinjay facetiously, “but ‘strawberry blonde. ‘Not at all,” she replied promptly. really prefer chocolate and orange lce,''— Philadelphia Press. “Well," said the at the offios win- dow, “If you haven't anything but an upper berth I'll take that. I've got to have a good night's sleep.” “We don't guarantes the sleep,” replied the austere man inside the window. '‘We only furnish you the berth.”—Chicago Trib- une. “Don’t you think there s a lesson to be learned from the Bervian episode?"’ “1 do,” answered Benator Borghum. ‘It teaches us to be very careful about trying to exercise power individually instead of organising corporations.” — Washington Btar. JUST A REMINDER. Baltimore American. Could a man but be a baby For a little while each day, Could he say when comes the gloaming, “I have had enough of play— ‘Take me, arms of her who bore me, Boothe the worries all away; Tuck me in and Croon above me Words that prove you'll ‘Always love me. Hold my restless, play-worn fingers In your own 50 restful, strong, While your lips breathe forth the cadence Of some old, sweet evensong.” Brother, you may drop your burden At _the closing of the day; In the Father's eyes your labors Are but prattling bables' play; And He longs to show His mercy "And to soothe your cares away. Hear that soft volce Croon above you; “Peace, my careworn Child, I love you." Then the arms called Everlasting Blip beneath you—tender, stro And your tired heart ceases sighing While your lips send forth a song. A Cool Spot Even In the sun, on a hot day you can keep cool and comfortable, with Hires Rootbeer The great summer temperance beverage. republican national convention as its nom- fnee will be selected with a view to his per- sonal merits and national reputation and popularity, as was the case when the con: venlion ‘took the bit in its teeth and nom- A package moki Bold everywhei % centa. Hews CHARLES K. NIRES COMPANY, Nalwre, Pa.