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Colonel Waring urged upon the Government the necessity of completing these improvements before June 1 of this year. These reforms are perfectly practicable, and when they are achieved they will confer almost incalculable advantages, not only upon the Cubans, but upon the cause of civilization throughout the world. In this connection it is especially appropriate and gratifying to record the announcement made by the New York Chamber of Commerce, that the Waring Memorial Fund of $100,000 has been successfully raised. The contributors to the Fund number 1,691. The interest from the Fund is to be divided equally between Colonel Waring's widow and daughter during their lives, and thereafter the principal will be used to establish in Columbia University a professorship, bearing Colonel Waring's name, under which instruction shall be given on matters of municipal administration.

and Trial

The Republican caucus in The Quay Caucus the Pennsylvania Legislature fulfilled the hopes rather than the expectations of Senator Quay's opponents. There are a hundred and sixty-five Republicans in the Legislature, and if one hundred and twenty-eight had attended the caucus, Senator Quay's re-election would have been assured. The total attendance at the caucus, however, was but one hundred and nine, of whom eleven voted on the first ballot for other candidates than Senator Quay. All of the eleven, however, as was inevitable, immediately supported a resolution to make Mr. Quay's nomination unanimous. Their preliminary ballot for other candidates was merely an unsuccessful attempt to be on both sides in the conflict. Nearly all the Republicans who remained away from the caucus signed a paper stating their devotion to the Republican party and heir determination that only a Republican should be elected to the United States Senate, but declaring that they could not vote for Senator Quay until the Supreme Court had passed upon the indictments now before it. Supreme interest thenceforward centered in the trial which took place upon Saturday. At this scene the Supreme Court room was crowded and hundreds were turned away. Senator Quay's attorneys put forward two arguments: first, that the Philadelphia courts and the Philadelphia press had shown such prejudice against Senator Quay that

a fair trial in that city was impossible; and, second, that the indictments against Senator Quay did not charge the violation of State law, inasmuch as State money once deposited in a bank became the money of the bank, to be used in whatever way the bank officials directed. District Attorney Graham, in his argument for the prosecution, replied at length to the charge that the Philadelphia courts could not be trusted to give a fair trial, and took the ground that the Supreme Court, if it had any jurisdiction in the matter, could only review the case if it came before the Court in the regular process of appeal. He denounced with much emphasis the attempt to interrupt the regular process of justice in behalf of a man backed by wealth and power, and quoted the declaration of exChief Justice Black that the power to apply for writs compelling such an interruption of the course of justice was "a stench in the nostrils of the Supreme Court." Owing to the importance of the case, an immediate decision is expected.

Contests

In Delaware the deadlock

Other Senatorial of a few years ago may this year be repeated. The fourteen Republican legislators belonging to what is known as the Regular, or anti-Addicks, faction, refused to enter a party caucus sure to be dominated by the fifteen Union Republicans, whose allegiance is to the famous gas speculator. As a result, about threescore ballots were taken before a Speaker of the House was elected, and when the election did take place, the Regular, or antiAddicks, Republican candidate received the support of all but two Democrats. This outcome suggested the possibility of a combination between the regular Republicans and the Democrats to bring about the re-election of Senator Gray; but such a combination is denied by both the factions supposed to be parties. In Michigan Governor Pingree met with defeat in his fight against the re-election of Senator Burrows. The Governor had attacked Senator Burrows as a monopolist whose support came from the opponents of equal taxation for the railroads, and also as a Republican who had not loyally supported himself in the Gubernatorial contest in November. Senator Burrows ignored the attacks upon him, and, in speaking afterwards of his victory, attributed it to his own loyal support of President McKinley, whose expansion pol

icy Governor Pingree strenuously condemns. In Nebraska the threatened disaffection of certain "anti-monopoly Republicans" seems to have been averted, and the election of a Republican to succeed Senator Allen now appears almost inevitable. In Minnesota Senator Davis, a radical expansionist, was re-elected with the unanimous and apparently enthusiastic support of the Republican legislators. In Maine, however, Senator Hale, who is an opponent of the annexation of the Philippines, was also re-elected by a unanimous vote. The re-election of Senator Bate in Tennessee was almost without significance, as his declaration in favor of the renomination of Mr. Bryan, the reaffirmation of the Chicago platform, and the renewal of the party's allegiance to the principle of local self-government was known in advance to represent the sentiment of the Democracy of Tennessee.

Message

The most radical message Governor Pingree's sent to the Legislature of any State came, as usual, from Governor Pingree, of Michigan. He, of course, renews his demand for a law taxing the property of railroads at the same rate that the farms and homes of individuals are taxed. This measure, upon which the Governor was defeated in the last Legislature, is almost certain to be adopted in the present one, for nearly all of the Democrats favored it last year, and this year the Republicans are virtually pledged in its favor by the action of their State Convention. Governor Pingree points out that the present Michigan law, which taxes the railroads upon their gross receipts, is probably unconstitutional, inasmuch as it taxes inter-State commerce, but that the railroads have never tested the law because it was favorable to them, and the State, of course, could not bring suit taking the ground that its own statute was unconstitutional. Turning from the matter of taxation to other questions connected with the management of the railroads, the Governor declares that just and equal rates for all citizens can be obtained only by government ownership. Referring to the recent action of Switzerland, Governor Pingree says:

Government ownership in Switzerland is public ownership in fact as well as in name, for the people own and control their government through the initiative and the referendum. In my opinion, it is high time for Michigan to imitate the example of Switzerland. I most earnestly recommend

that this Legislature inaugurate a policy looking to the ultimate purchase by the State of all railroads within its limits.

The proposed policy of State ownership with National supervision will find many supporters among men who are opposed to the nationalization of the railroads, because it avoids the danger of the excessive centralization of power and the still greater danger that the Representatives of the several States would log-roll in Congress for the construction of needless roads in their districts at the Nation's expense. Where the people of a State must meet the expenses of their new roads by direct taxation levied exclusively upon themselves, there is likely to be greater conservatism. As to street railroads, Governor Pingree demands the passage of acts referring all franchises to the approval of the citizens, and giving municipal corporations the right to construct and maintain street railway systems.

Other Messages

The message of Governor Wolcott, of Massachusetts, is a conservative document, calling attention to the rapid increase of public debt in that Commonwealth, and recommending rigid economy in expenditures. Governor Lounsbury, of Connecticut, urges an amendment to the State Constitution by which Senators shall be apportioned according to population. Governor Hastings, of Pennsylvania, declares that the half-million dollars expended upon the new State capitol has produced a structure which is altogether intolerable, and he recommends that it be destroyed and the work be done again in a manner satisfactory to the people of the Commonwealth. Governor Mount, of Indiana, recommends that the repetition of Whitecap outrages shall be discouraged by a law subjecting the county to damages wherever any one is punished except by due process of law. Governor Tanner, of Illinois, defends fifty-year franchises and denounces public ownership as "abhorrent to common sense." He, however, recommends the introduction of four-cent fares on street railroads. Governor Lind, of Minnesota, urges a reduction of one-fifth in the State tax levy, and the recouping of the loss in revenue it would occasion by increasing the tax on the gross earnings of railroads from three to four per cent. Inasmuch as the gross earnings of railroads are usually about one-sixth of their market value, the proposed tax would be equivalent

to a rate of seven mills upon the actual value of the railroad property. Governor Lind also recommends the State publication of the school-books as a part of the free text-book system, and the adoption of the initiative and the referendum. In Nebraska the messages of the retiring Populist Governor and the incoming Republican Governor both demand a new maximum-rate law to take the place of the one declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. In Montana, where there bids fair to be another deadlock over the election of a United States Senator, Governor Smith recommends that the Legislature support the general demand for the election of Senators directly by the people.

The first inaugural adThe Socialist Mayor's dress of the first SocialInaugural ist Mayor of the United States interested a vastly wider audience than that which heard it in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Mayor Chase began by declaring that he should use all his power for the advancement of Socialism and the building up of the co-operative commonwealth; but when he proceeded to set forth the concrete steps which he would take as Mayor of Haverhill, he outlined a course favored by a large body of citizens who are neither Socialists nor individualists, but believe that some ends are best obtained by co-operative action, and others through individual er.deavor. On the question of taxation he stood for the rigid application of the old American principle that every citizen should be taxed in proportion to his property. There was apparently no suggestion even of the progressive taxation of large holdings or the lighter taxation of small ones, favored by so many nonSocialists. Almost the only line upon which the Mayor urged larger direct gifts from the public to the individual, in accordance with the Socialistic principle, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need," was in the matter of education. Nevertheless, the address was "Socialistic" that word is understood in America, though not as the Marxian definition would require. In order that the city should discharge its duties as an employer, the Mayor recommended three things: (1) A minimum wage for street employees-$2 for eight hours' work; (2) union wages and conditions in the masons' work under the direction of the Street Department; (3) the union label on

as

all city printing. In order that relief might be furnished to the unemployed, he urged three things more: (1) The purchase of a tract of land, and the necessary implements and seed, for a city farm large enough to furnish work to those desiring work upon it; (2) the enlargement of the fuel-yard, and provision that those needing fuel may earn it by their labor; (3) an appropriation to furnish employment upon special works of public utility, such as the improvement of the park system and the construction of bicycle paths through all the principal thoroughfares. These six demands, in addition to that for the public ownership of electric lighting and street railway monopolies, upon which the campaign was so largely conducted, embraced all the concrete "steps toward Socialism" urged in the message. That they are all steps in the direction of Socialism no one will deny; but as no step can ever be taken that is not in the direction of some goal we may not care to reach, sensible people will consider them on their own merits.

Violating the Civil Service Law

The absolute necessity of a thoroughly competent civil service is evidently becoming clearer in the mind of the country as that mind awakes to our responsibilities in the new territories which have come under our flag. From this point of view the statements made at the recent meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League deserve special attention. The League declares that the order of July 27, 1897, regulating the method of removal, has been violated in letter and spirit in many branches of the service; that in the Internal Revenue service, and in the offices of United States Marshals, appointments have been made in violation of the law; that the efficiency of the Indian service has been seriously affected as a result of appointments and removals for political reasons; that the Commissioner of Pensions, by an adroit system of evasion, is nullifying the operation of the rules in the pension examining force; that many persons are employed in custom-houses and departments at Washington without examination; that the changes made in the consular service have been more sweeping than at any previous time, exceeding in number those made under the preceding administration; that the pledge of the Republican party to extend the civil service system wherever practicable has yet to be

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redeemed with regard to the assistant postmasters at free-delivery offices, the fourthclass postmasters, the force of the Congressional Library, the employees of the Census Bureau, and of the municipal service in the District of Columbia. The spoils system is dying, but it is dying hard because so many people are interested in keeping it alive. President McKinley and the Republican party ought to be held up to the very highest sense of responsibility in this matter.

English Methods in Egypt

In this connection, a short dispatch from Lord Cromer, the English administrator of Egypt, in regard to the employment of young Englishmen in Egypt and the Soudan, furnishes very suggestive reading. Lord Cromer has constant applications for situations; and, in response to a flood of inquiries, states in this letter the general principles on which he is conducting the administration of affairs in Egypt. He says that a very small number of Englishmen are employed in high positions, but that every effort is made to restrict the number of Europeans of all nationalities in the subordinate ranks of the public service, which, so far as possible, is reserved exclusively for natives of Egypt. In other words, Lord Cromer's idea of governing a colony is to put no Englishman into any position which can be filled by a competent native. The responsible positions, in which harmony with English ideas and cooperation with English administrators are necessary, are filled by carefully selected and specially trained English men; all other positions are filled by natives. Thus, as Lord Cromer has already said, he governs with English heads and Egyptian hands. This is scientific governing; it is dealing with a dependency for the sake of the dependency and not for the sake of the home government. Lord Cromer has made a great impression in Egypt by his courage, his frankness, and his ability. The native Egyptians know that they can trust him; he has made an equally great impression at home by refusing to subordinate the great trust in his hands to the demands of local politicians or of their friends; and those gentlemen in this country who are looking to the new territory now under the American flag as furnishing another set of places to be secured and salaries to be obtained will do well to study Lord Cromer's conception of the true method of dealing with such territories,

France and England

There are many indications that the various

causes of disagreement between France and England are likely to be pressed at an early date to a definite issue. England is apparently determined to force the hand of France and to put an end to the uncertainty and constant irritation which have so long characterized the relations of both countries. The publication of the Madagascar "blue-book," with its full disclosure of the history of the difficulties between the two Governments in that island, is a clear indication of such a determination. The French statement of the case has not come to hand. The English statement affirms that France has deliberately ignored all British trading and resi dential treaty rights; and Lord Salisbury declares that her action cannot be justified either as a matter of good faith or by the practice of international law. But the real crisis between the two countries is likely to come, not in Madagascar, but in Newfoundland, where the shore rights exercised by the French have long been in dispute. It seems probable that this dispute, which is more than a century old and which concerns privileges of no very great value to the French, will be brought to a peaceful conclusion by the two Governments, unless popular feeling in either country becomes suddenly inflamed. The French have in their undoubted claim the basis for securing some concessions in other parts of the world which will be of far greater value to them; and they can hardly be blind to the fact that, sooner or later, Newfoundland herself would resist the exercise of privileges of so anomalous a character. A leading French naval officer has recently declared that the French shore rights are of no sort of value for naval purposes, and a well-known publicist has advised giving them up in return for some adequate compensation. This seems to be the general feeling in France.

It is a pleasure to report The Jews in France that the Prefect of Algiers, whose shocking treatment of the Jews was reported in these columns last week, has been suspended from exercising the functions of his office for three months. A correspondent of the Nation" contributes some interesting facts to our knowledge of the anti-Semitic agitation. The essential cowardice of the attack on the Jews is brought out by the fact

that in a total population of nearly forty millions of people there are only about eighty thousand Hebrews. One would imagine, from the frenzied feelings of the antiSemitic leaders and the passionate outcries of the anti-Semitic press, that France was in imminent danger of being mastered by less than one five-hundredth of its population. The trouble with the Jew is that he is so successful.

There are in each Chamber of the Corps Législatif at least four or five Jews; out of eighty-nine Prefects, fortyseven are Jews; and there is a large proportion of Jews in all the administrative depart ments throughout France. Some of the highest magistrates and some of the highest officers in the army are Jews; their success in the financial world is a matter of history in all countries where they have had any chance; and it is a success which has been made in an open field and on equal conditions with competitors of other races. In the world of scholarship there is an increasing number of men of Jewish birth who achieve distinction; the same thing may be said of science and literature. To persecute the Jew because he has superior ability of some kind is to confess inferiority on the part of the persecutors.

M. Drumont's "Jewish France"

As a matter of fact, the anti-Semitic abomination has affected only a small part of the French population; unluckily, that part seems to be the noisiest. When M. Édouard Drumont published his "Jewish France" in 1886, he was unknown to the public at large. An obscure Catholic journalist with a certain amount of literary culture, living in a clerical atmosphere, devout and fanatical, hating the Republicans and all other disbelievers in the Roman Church, he collected all the scandalous tales about men of Hebrew birth which were accessible to him. He declared that Gambetta and Jules Simon were Jews by birth, and he attempted to show that France was tied hand and foot by a conspiracy of Jewish capitalists, who were corrupting every department of the Government and nullifying the will of the French people, and who were practically the masters of France. He described the Jew as "mercantile, avaricious, intriguing, and crafty;" and he described the French, as part of the Aryan family, as "sons of Heaven, concerned with their higher aspirations." The book passed through 115 editions; and though it

evoked a storm of protests and a number of libel suits, and was accepted by intelligent people as "the directory of defamation," the sale went on and the excitement increased. That excitement would have died out, probably, if it had not been, unhappily, revived by two unfortunate events.

The first of these was the Fanning the Flame Panama scandal, which smirched so many of the most prominent men in France, and three of the chief figures in which were Jews. The criminal directors of the Panama Company, and the Deputies and Senators who sold themselves, were Christians, but the three intermediaries were Hebrews. Then came the Dreyfus affair, which was like a great wind blowing upon a vast mass of inflammable material. Drumont, in the meantime, had founded a newspaper, and kept fanning the flame by incessant defamations of everything Jewish. His journal belongs to what Zola has called "the filthy press." There has been no extravagance of denunciation or of threatening in which the anti-Semites have not indulged; they have talked as coolly of massacre as did the Turks in Armenia, or the Guise party on St. Bartholomew's Day. There are many signs, however, that this madness has passed; only half a dozen Deputies have succeeded in getting into the French Chamber on the strength of this issue, and they have all turned out to be fanatics or charlatans, if reports are to be believed; and when, not long ago, in a speech in the Chamber, the French Premier, M. Dupuy, declared that anti-Semitism was "an ugly and dangerous method of a past age," the anti-Semites succeeded in casting only ten votes.

The Postal Service

in the War

Naturally enough, people who had to wait for letters that never came, or came very tardily, during the war with Spain, were inclined to criticise the postal service unsparingly. A glance at the report of the First Assistant Postmaster-General will convince even these people that in point of fact our postal agents in Cuba, Porto Rico, and Manila worked with energy, devotion, and, in some cases, even heroism. Many of the complaints made against the postal service were properly chargeable against the transport service, which was as irregular and unsatis

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