4
THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER
Tuesday, November 4, 1902.
GENERAL NEWS
WHAT THE DISPATCHES TELL.
The News Boiled Down and Presented in
Convenient Form for Busy Readers. .
A census bulletin on illiteracy
among white children shows a great
ter percentage among those of native-born
parents than those of foreign-born
parents.
Dr. Finlay, chief sanitary officer,
says in his September report that
not a single case of yellow fever or
iginated in Havana. This has never
occurred before in thirty years.
The State Railroad Commission
of Kentucky has forwarded to the
Interstate Commerce Commission a.
formal complaint against the alleged
consolidation of railroad lines in
Kentucky.
Forty-one out of forty-three pro
fessors of economics have affirma
tively answered a query sent from
New York as to the advisability of a
reduction or repeal of import duties
on trust-made articles.
.T. P. Morgan & Co., during the
present year, are estimated to have
received $42,190,000 in profits for en
gineering great combinations. The
greatest profit was in promoting the
United States Steel Corporation, and
this is put at $20,340,000. Several
combinations are yet to be heard
from.
The grand jury at St. Louis has
indicted Edward Butler on the
charge of paying to Delegate Kelley
a bribe of $47,500 for members of the
House of Delegates who put through
the ten-year lighting bill in 1899. In
the list of witnesses are the names of
six members of the alleged boodle
combine.
Secretary Hoot last week issued an
order for a further reduction of the
enlisted strength of the army to 59,
860 men. Last July an order was is
sued for a reduction of the enlisted
force from 100,000, the maximum
strength, to CG,7ll. The reduction
to 59,8GG men will be gradual, being
dependent upon the casualties in
which are included expiration of en
listments. A separate order was is
sued by Secretary Root directing
that the Porto Rican regiment be al
so reduced from 85 to 55 men in each
company.
One by one Senator Morgan's fond
hopes of ever having the Nicaragua
route substituted for that of Panama
are fading. He had great confidence
that a clear title could not be estab
lished by the Panama Canal Com- j
pany, which sells its rights to the i
United States for $40,000,000, and
that therefore his pet ditchway
would have to be reverted to. But
Attorney General Knox's decision
that the title of the French owners
of the Panama canal is good leaves
no obstacle in the way of proceeding
with the plans for purchase. Char
lotte Observer.
There is much actual regret in
Washington over the recall of Chi
nese Minister Wu, which takes effect
immediately. Mr. Wu has been a
great favorite in diplomatic and offi
cial circles. He has entertained roy
ally and has always contributed more
than his share to the lighter enjoy
ment of every social affair. To the
newspaper men he has been uniform
ly courteous and all will regret his
departure. He has been appointed
Minister of Commerce, and will be
charged with the important duty of
negotiating the new commercial
treaties with foreign nations, a duty
for which his long experience in this
country has peculiarly fitted him.
When the result of the v Danish
elections was known there was a gen
eral belief that a majority favorable
to the sale of the Danish West India
islands to the United States had been
elected. The lower House was in
favor of the sale, and it was thought
a small majority of members of the
Landsthing would also vote for the
ratification of the treaty. For some
time the question has been under dis
cussion. The vote was taken last
week and it resulted in a tie. This
will end the matter at least until an
other Danish election.
An interesting announcement has
just been made by General Corbin
It is to the effect that General Young
will succeed General Miles when the
latter retires by age limitation next
August. General Young, however,
will be retired by age limitation in
January, 1904, and his successor is
not announced. Among army offi
cers the belief is current that Gen
eral Corbin will be the next General
-Commanding, but it is known that
Secretary Root hopes before then to
have the 'position abolished and xa
general staff substituted.
In printing a fine full-page por
trait of Mr. J. W. Folk, the St. Louis
Circuit Attorney, who has brought
about the exposure of bribery in St.
Louis and the conviction of bribe
givers and bribe-takers, the Outlook
remarks : "For nearly a year he has
been the central figure in the most
remarkable prosecution of political
knavery since that of the Tweed
Ring in the early seventies. This
prosecution has resulted In the con
viction, not only of bribe-takers, but
of bribe-givers, and has brought home
to the rich and influential classes of
St. Louis the extent to which the re
sponsibility for civic corruption
rests upon them. Mr. Folk was. nom
inated for his present office against
his protest, but, having been elected,
I has discharged its duties against still
stronger protests from party leaders
who put him in nomination. Demo
cratic corruptionists, as well as Re
publican, have been prosecuted with-
j out fear or favor."
Fate of the Non-Union Miners. "
The non-union miner, whose rights
have been feelingly discussed in the
daily press, whose "right to work"
has been the principle for which the
operators said they were battling, and
who is to figure largely in the discus
sions before the strike arbitration
commission, is fast disappearing
from the anthracite region, the dis
patches say. The companies have
not dismissed them, says a Scranton
correspondent, "but with, the stock
ade living quarters gone, and the al
most impossible task of securing
boardinghouses confronting them,the
imported non-unionists have packed
up and left." In some places, where
the non-unionists remain, the strik
ers are refusing to return to work.
Much sympathy had been expressed
for the engineers and pumpmen,
whose places were practically all fill
ed by non-unionists. The miners felt
that they ought to stand by theseen
gineers and pumpmen, while the
operators were said to feel that they
ought to stand by the non-unionists,
who had saved the mines from being
flooded. But the non-unionists are
emigrating and the strikers are get
ting their old places. This news of
the hegira of non-unionists followed
a dispatch that filled a column in the
morning paper of Thursday of last
week with stories of assault, dyna
miting, and intimidation aimed at
the non-union men. Literary Di
gest. THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION. "
President Roosevelt Designates Novem
ber 27 as the Day for Festivity and
the Returning of Thanks.
Washington, October 30. Presi
dent Roosevelt yesterday issued his
proclamation designating Thursday,
November 27th, as a day of thanks
giving. The proclamation is as fol
lows :
"According to the yearly custom of
our people, it falls iw rj' 'a7
dent at this seasone e
of festivity and thanksgrrili'to God.
Over a century and a quarter has
passed since this country took its
place among the nations of the earth,
and during that time we have had,
on the whole, more to be thankful for
than has fallen to the lot of any oth
er people. Generation after genera
tion has grown td manhood and pass
ed away. Each has had to bear its
peculiar burdens, each to face its
special crisis, and each has known
years of grim trial, when the country
was menaced by malice domestic or
foreign levy, when the hand of the
Lord was heavy upon it in drouth or
pestilence, when in bodily distress
and anguish oi; soul it paid the pen
alty of folly and a f roward heart.
"Nevertheless, decade by decade,
we have struggled onward and up
ward; we now abundantly enjoy ma
terial well-being, and under the favor
of the Most High we are striving
earnestly to achieve moral and spirit
ual uplifting. The year that has just
closed has been one of peace and of
overflowing plenty. For this we ren
der heartfelt and solemn thanks to
the Giver of Good; and we seek to
praise Him not by words only, but by
deeds, by the way in which we do our
duty to ourselves and to our fellow
men.
"Now, therefore, -I, Theodore
Roosevelt, President of the United
States, do hereby designate as a day
of general thanksgiving, Thursday,
the 27th of the coming November,
and do recommend that throughout
the land the people, cease from their
ordinary occupations and in their
several homes and places of worship
render thanks unto Almighty God for
the manifold blessings of the past
year."
Mr. Carnegie at St. Andrew's.
Last week was notable in the aca
demic world for a series of speeches
singularly free from the usual con
ventionalities of such occasions, and
singularly forceful and vital. Mr.
Carnegie's address on the occasion
of his installation as Rector of St.
Andrew's University was not only
strong in statistical statement of the
recent industrial growth of different
nations and as a presentation of the
present condition of the different
countries in the economical competi
tion of the last ten years, but was
also an eloquent plea for internation
al peace, which Mr. Carnegie has
greatly at heart. The address is sig
nificant of the striking changes of
the last two decades. A Scotchman
speaking at a Scotch university, but
pre-eminently an American, who has
made in this country one of the
greatest fortunes in history, a busi
ness man installed as Rector of an
ancient university these were novel
and significant features of an aca
demic occasion. Mr. Carnegie spoke
to a European audience as a citizen
of the world, holding a position as
a great philanthropist which enables
him to take the attitude of a friend
and speak with the frankness of a
friend. He declared that it was im
possible for Great Britain, by reason
of her size, to rival successfully the
productive countries of the magni
tude of America,. Germany, and Rus
sia; that neither Canada nor Aus
tralia gives promise of much increase
in population or industrialism, and
that all thought of the material asr
cendency, even with the Empire must
be abandoned. America produces
more steel than all the rest of the
world; in the production of iron,
coal, and textiles she has the lead:
three-quarters of the world's cotton
is produced here, and the value of
her manufactures is treble that of
Great Britain. Germany threatens
to push Great Britain from even the
second place; France is not likely to
increase her trade, and remains a na
tion of the first rank only because of
the virtue and frugality of her peo
ple. Invasions of Europe by Ameri
can manufacturers are not to be ap
prehended, because America uses 96
per cent of her own manufactures.
Mr. Carnegie called attention to the
facf that within a quarter of a cen
tury the supply of Cleveland iron
stone in Great Britain will be ex
hausted, and that the Cumberland
supply is already nearly exhausted;
which means dearer iron and steel.
He made an appeal to Emperor Wil
liam to use his influence towards the
creation of the United States of Eu
rope as a political and industrial
union, declaring that this was the
only way in which American com
mercial invasions could be success
fully resisted. One- Emperor having
taken the first step towards the peace
of the world in the Hague Confer
ence, the other Emperor, he said,
may some day play, a great part on
the stage of Europe by freeing the
world from the paralyzing fear of
war. Unless internal peace can be
secured in Europe, the American
Union, soon to embrace two hundred
millions of the English-speaking
race, would supply most of the
world's wants. New York Outlook,
November lit.