argument in favor of inferior music in churches that might not apply equally in favor of, say, defective ventilation.-Toronto Globe.

THE attitude of the Liberal party on the question of promoting immigration to Canada is a decidedly novel one, and if one did not well understand that it has been taken in the hope of catching a few votes in the labor centres, might be regarded as serious and startling. The one need of the Dominion to-day is population. Montreal Gazette.

MANY municipal rulers of all kinds in all countries have been to the full as guilty as the New York lot. Only with us are municipal officers (elected at the same time and in the same way) to be found who labor successfully to bring the guilty to justice. We wash our soiled linen in public; but we wash it, it seems.- Philadelphia Press.

LITERARY.

AN English reviewer notices that Bret Harte's women say very little, though generally to the point.——The reception to Mr. W. D. Howells by the Author's Club of New York promises to be a notable affair, not only from the guests invited, but also from its absolute informality.- -Mr. Frederic J. Stunson's American Statute Law, about to be issued by Chas. C. Soule, of Boston, is a systematic comparison and statement of the laws of all the States on every subject pertaining to the persons and property of citizens.- -Swedenborg's De Anina will soon be published for the first time in English. It has been translated and edited by Frank Sewall, A. M.-Part of the reminisences in the autobiography of C. M. Clay will be ministerial and pertain to Russia.Henry Holt & Co. are to publish "The Romance of the Moon," by Mr. J. A. Mitchell, art editor of Life.- D. Lothrop & Co. announce "A New Departure for Girls."- -The American Society, for Psycical research, intend to bring out a report on Apparitions and Haunted Houses. They desire dates from any who have well-authenticated cases.Joseph Victor Scheffel, who died April 10, is said to have been the most popular German poet of the generation. The letters of Schumann, edited by his wife, are giving much delight to their readers. Joseph Cower, M. P., the English Radical, has published his speeches.- "Bob" Burdette is to be elected an honary member of the Chicago Press Club in return for generous services to the organization. -Mr. Howells recently told a reporter that he had never written a book simply for the purpose of getting the people to read it, but to give them something to think about and better themselves for this world and the next.The editor of the Brooklyn agazine has decided that novel writing is the most remunerative of all branches of literature.- -Goldwin Smith will soon publish "The Political History of Canada."- -Andrew Carnagie's "Triumphant Democ racy" is on sale.- -Browning is preparing a complete edition of his works, with brief introduction.

BULLETS.

SENATOR JONES, of Florida, declares that he originally went to Detroit for his health, and not to make love to pretty Miss Palm. We expect to hear next of some conscience-tossed statesman going to Texas for the purpose of getting religion.-St. Louis Globe Democrat.

A GREAT deal is involved in the proposition to have open executive sessions in the Senate. Some of the Senators are not yet ready to swear off on cold tea.Chicago Herald.

IT WILL presently be so that a firm which does not advertise its business by having itself boycotted will be regarded as lacking in enterprise.-Indianapolis Journal.

Now if the strikers and militia at East St. Louis should fall to writing letters to each other the situation would become decidedly complicated.-Chicago Herald.

A DEFEATED candidate is apt to look upon the gloomy side of everything for awhile after he has received a trouncing.-Oshkosh Times.

IF tariff bounties went to the laborers, wages in this country would be much higher than they now are.-New York Star.

IT IS to the common interest of both parties to aid in the suppression of the mugwump nuisance.-New York Sun.

Yhould

THE surplus should be reduced, and the surplus of politicians should be begun on first.-Detroit Tribune, April 18.

THE labor question is a game of ball. Men go out on strikes and want of judgment.-New Orleans Picayune.

THE Democratic party is enjoying, not æolian, but sheolian harmony.-The National Republican, April 20.

THE protection that prevents the importation of raw material is a fraud and a stupidity-Philadelphia Record.

THERE is nothing so merciless as the coercive power of a narrow party majority.-T. B. Reed of Maine.

THE power behind a throne is that which plans and thinks much and says little.-New Orleans Picayune.

DON'T let the cholera news distress you. filth abroad.-Chicago Mail. It is the regular spring outbreak of

WIT OF THE WEEK.

ROARS FROM THE RAMBLER.

EDITOR "I don't see why our paper don't make more money, Mr. Quill. Everybody seems to speak highly of it."

Quill" Yes; I believe it is generally liked. Even the sheriff to-day acknowledged he had an attachment."

SNIFKINS "I hear you are going to marry Miss Mimosa."

Podgeson" I acknowledge the proud fact that the young lady is my fiancee." Snifkins "As you are going to marry her mainly for her money, I should suggest a better name."

Podgeson-"What do you mean?"

Snifkins-"Your Financee would be more appropriate."

TREASURER" Well, madam, what do you want? Don't keep the people wait

ing!

PAPER slippers are the latest novelty in that line. They will never take the place of the old style for boy-fanning purposes, however.

MAKING IT BINDING.—“I am a lawyer's daughter, you know, George, dear," she said, after George had proposed and had been accepted, "and you wouldn't think it strange if I were to ask you to sign a little paper to the effect that we are engaged, would you?"

George was too happy to think anything strange just then, and he signed the paper with a trembling hand and a bursting heart.

Then she laid her ear against his middle vest button, and they were very, very happy.

"Tell me, darling," said George after a long, delicious silence, "why did you want me to sign that paper? Do you not repose implicit confidence in my love for you?"

"Ah, yes," she sighed with infinite content, "indeed I do; but George, dear, I have been fooled so many times."

CLIPPINGS FROM CONTEMPORARIES.

"GIVE us, O give us a man who sings at his work," says Carlyle. Oh! yes; give him to us; deliver him into. our hands. He occupies the next office, and we can't get at him.

A LADY writer asks: "Why don't bachelors marry?" That's so-why don't they? Come to think about it, we have never seen a bachelor who was married. It's lamentable, too.

THINGS one would rather have left unsaid-He. "What a pretty fan!" She. "Yes; I had it given to me when I first came out." He. "Really! It has worn well!"

YOUNG PLAYWRIGHT" Well, Mr. Buncomb, have you read my comedy?" Buncomb-" Yes; and I find I shall be unable to use it. It has some good points, my dear boy, but it's crude-dem crude."

Young playwright—“Then you couldn't think of putting on the stage? Buncomb "Well, I didn't mean to say that. I could have it ground up and use it for a snowstorm, if you would care to have it put on that way." (Exit playwright abruptly.)

JOTTINGS FROM JUDGE.

BARNUM need not weep over the absence of his treasurer. If he can get the law to capture the gentleman he will have a greater curiosity than any other in his collection.

FORCE OF HABIT.-Customer. "What have you this morning?"
Waiter. "Beefsteak and shad; shad all gone. What'll you have?"

A REVISED VERSION." O where are you going, my pretty maid ?”
"I'm going a-chestnuting, sir," she said.
And she spoke sober truth, in sooth, for lo!
She had a ticket for the minstrel show.

EVENTS OF THE WEEK.

THURSDAY, APRIL 15.

DOMESTIC.-Fuller reports show immense destruction of life and property by the cyclone in Minnesota, and serious devastation from a similar cause in Iowa and Missouri. Militiamen in East St. Louis shot at by unknown men. The majority and minority reports of the special committee charged with the investigation of the election of Senator Payne were submitted to the Ohio Legislature. Grand Master Workman Powderly addresses circular to the Knights of Labor asking aid for the strikers. E. L. Kimberly begins a $10,000 libel suit in the Connecticut courts against Alexander Troup, editor of the New Haven Union. W. A. Swayze was shot and killed at Crockett, Texas, by A. Katterus. A passenger supposed to be D. S. Chase, of Carthage, Mo., jumped overboard from the steamer City of Mackinaw and was drowned. D. Turpin, a farmer living near Maryville, Mo., was shot and killed by an officer at St. Louis. The second trial of General Shaler on charges of bribery, based on the testimony of Monmouth B. Wilson before the Gibbs investigating committee and the grand jury, was begun. Mrs. Gray appeared before the grand jury in New York to plead for the aid of the law in removing the boycott from her Hudson street bakery. One more boycotter was arrested and fined at the Jefferson Market police court.

CONGRESSIONAL.-Mr. Logan addressed the Senate at length in favor of open executive sessions. A sharp personal recontre occurred between Messrs. Blair and Hoar in the Senate. The House discussed the River and Harbor bill.

FOREIGN. The budget was introduced in the English House of Commons. Official text of Gladstone's Irish bill was promulgated. Dilke called for reopening of his case. Cholera has broken out in Brindisi, where there have been sixtytwo cases and three deaths.

FRIDAY, APRIL 16.

DOMESTIC.-St. John, N. B., will contribute a floral decoration for General Grant's tomb on May 31. Canonchet has been purchased by Mrs. William Sprague. The bishops of the American Catholic Church have responded to the greetings of the Australian heirarchy. An assembly of the Knights of Labor, numbering 700 members, at Hudson, Mass., has been suspended for insubordination. A few of the pupils in three public schools of St. Louis demanded shorter hours. The schools of Waltham, Mass, are closed in consequence of the strike of the teachers. Vice-President Hoxie again refuses o arbitrate with the Southwestern strikers. A large number of New Yorkers visit the Walters' Art Gallery in Balt more. W. H. Vanderbilt's sons give $250,000 to the College of Physicians and Surgeons. John Bigelow submits his report on the Panama canal.

CONGRESSIONAL.— 1.-In the Senate Mr. Camden spoke on inter-State commerce, and Mr. Dawes on Indian depredations. The House adopted the Dingley reso. lution calling on the President for information concerning the fisheries questions.

FOREIGN. Mr. Gladstone explained the Irish Land Purchase bill in the English House of Commons. The presence of cholera in Italy has caused uneasiness in France and Egypt, and strict quarantine regulations have been enforced. The Dominion government was sustained by Parliament in its management of the Northwest rebellion, the vote of censure being lost by a decisive majority.

SATURDAY, APRIL 17.

DOMESTIC.-Lewis Loards, of Wasson, Tenn., shot two young men because his sister said they had insulted her. A subchief of the Utes, on the Utah reservation, suspecting an enemy of causing the death of his three children, killed him and was himself shot immediately by friends of the victim. Two ladies, while watching the progress of a storm in western Pennsylvania, were killed by lightning. The navigation of the great lakes is open. Washington's farewell address, published in the Toronto papers as coming from Sir John Macdonald, hoaxed that city. A Texan assassination, with more than usual cowardliness, is reported from Comanche. The disappointed candidate for mayor of Camden, N. J., killed himself. The first of the twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations of "departures for the front" took place in Massachusetts yesterday. Rhode Island has appropriated $5,000 per annum to care for the destitute veterans. The Baltimore and Ohio switchmen are still on a strike at Chicago; the Lake Shore switchmen went out yesterday, and trouble is feared on the Rock Island and Burlington roads. The great elephant, Alice, from the "Zoo" at London, arrived here in the steamer Egyptian Monarch. Many persons were injured by an explosion of molten metal in Pittsburgh. Governor Hill has signed the bill making twelve hours a day's labor on street railroads in New York.

CONGRESSIONAL. -The House passed the bill authorizing the establishing of export tobacco factories.

FOREIGN. A meeting of Liberals opposed to Mr. Gladstone was held in London. M. de Lesseps denounced Mr. John Bigelow's Panama canal reports. Cablegrams disclose the deep impressions made in Great Britain by Mr. Gladstone's Irish measures, and intimate that the chances of their success are more favorable. Paris is excited over the accounts of New York Aldermanic malfeasance, and the Temps devotes much space to reflections on the "scandal, corruption and venality" of officials in the American metropolis.

SUNDAY, APRIL 18.

DOMESTIC.-There is little change in the situation on the Gould roads. The The railroad officials declare that Knights appear confident of ultimate success. they have fully resumed business, and that the attitude of the strikers is of no importance. Mr. Powderly opposes any eight-hour movement on the first of May. The eight-hour agitation continues at Chicago. There was a general strike on all the New York street railroads except the Eighth and Ninth avenue lines. A labor meeting was held in Washington at which Messrs. Voorhees, Weaver, Farquhar, and O'Hara made speeches. Two brothers named Weaver were forcibly taken from the custody of the sheriff at Anthony, Kan., and shot to death by lynchers. Killis Moorman was hanged by a mob at Axton, Henry county, Va. A manufactory of counterfeit coin, cleverly hidden, at Fort Keogh, M. T., was captured by United States officers.

CONGRESSIONAL. Both houses in session. The House of Representatives decided to make the Navy reorganization bill a special order. Attorney-General Garland testified before the Pan-Electric special committee,

FOREIGN. The Montreal flood is the worst ever experienced by that city, and the loss to the wholesale merchants alone will aggregate $10,000,000. Forty dead persons were taken from fire at Stry.

TUESDAY, APRIL 20.

DOMESTIC.-Nine lives were lost in a flood from a broken dam at East Lee, Mass. The 7th New York regiment was reviewed by the President in Washington. The Citizens' National Bank, of Williamsport, closed its doors. The National League issued an appeal to Irishmen. Engineer McFarland, Fireman Maley, and Brakeman Matthews, train hands, were probably fatally injured on the Pennsylvania railroad, near Hermanville. Lena Ruth was burned to death at St. Louis, Missouri, by the explosion of an oil stove. The ice gorge at Montreal having broken, the water is falling, and further danger to the city is averted. Sir John Macdonald's appearance in the Canadian parliament caused the conservative members to enliven the proceedings by singing "He's a jolly. good fellow." A pensioner in Stamford, Conn., who recently received $2,300 arrears, is now missing with his money. Mrs. George Hull, in consequence of marital disagreements, cut her throat with a razor at Bridgeport, Conn. Mobs gathered at the Lake Shore railroad yards, near Chicago, obstructed freight trains and assaulted men at work. The governor arrived on the scene later and cautioned the crowd, declaring that the whole force of the State would be employed to protect the roads. There is a little hitch in the movement of trains at St. Louis and East St. Louis. Two militiamen were fired on at the latter place and had narrow escapes from death. The cotton mill presidents at Augusta, Ga., received a communication from the Knights of Labor, and notified their employes that they would recognize no organization. The Knights resolved to insist on recognition.

CONGRESSIONAL.-The Senate rejected the Weil and La Abra claims treaty. The House continued debate on the River and Harbor bill. Mr. Powderly testified before the House committee to investigate the Western strikes.

FOREIGN. The news from Greece is warlike. Large numbers of soldiers and quantities of war material are being forwarded to Thessaly and other points. Mr. Jesse Collins and Mr. Chamberlain have written and published letters setting forth their views in opposition to Mr. Gladstone's measures for the relief of Ireland. The powers have ratified the Congo treaty.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21.

DOMESTIC.-The New York Seventh Regiment, guests of the Washington Light Infantry, visited Mt. Vernon. Returning to Washington in the afternoon, they were escorted to the Potomac Railroad Station by the Washington Light Infantry, and took a special train for New York city. There are no startling developments in the pending strikes. The Governor of Louisiana has issued a proclamation establishing a quarantine from and after May 10 against all vessels arriving at the Mississippi quarantine station from inter-tropical American and West Indian ports. Senators Edmunds and Hoar make denial of slanderous misstateAll hope of ments relative to reports of speeches in secret sessions of the Senate. recovering the bodies of the twenty-six miners entombed at Nanticoke has been given up. The National Academy of Sciences was in session in this city. Loss by the flood at East Lee, Mass., is estimated at $155,000.

CONGRESSIONAL.-The Senate consumed the day on unimportant bills, and the House continued discussion of the River and Harbor bill.

VOL. I.

PUBLIC OPINION.

It is the purpose of the managers of PUBLIC OPINION to present in one paper the views of many, to give each week the pith of prevailing thought, and, in short, to impartially reflect public opinion.

PUBLIC OPINION will contain, in attractive form, printed and spoken opinions on leading questions, taken as they appear, without comment, and with due credit, from newspapers and periodicals, from organs of political parties, from the independent press, from the publications of various orders and associations, and the utterances of professional and public men-thus focalizing many and divergent views and opinions.

PUBLIC OPINION will aim to be an epitome of American thought, in which the reader will find prepared and arranged for instant perusal and examination the most important comments and expressions on the foremost topics of the day. They will appear without bias toward any political party, commercial enterprise, religious sect, or contending influences. Recourse will also be had to papers in this country printed in foreign languages, and to European publications, for matters and opinions therein.

PUBLIC OPINION, in brief, is designed to be the one medium through which will be given current and contemporaneous opinions on subjects commanding public attention, together with a carefullyprepared miscellany, a chronological record, and items of general and special interest.

For the purpose set forth, and believing that the Capital of the Nation is the best point of observation, the PUBLIC OPINION Company will prosecute the enterprise with energy and persistence, confident that it will meet with public favor.

THE PUBLIC OPINION CO.

POLITICAL.

THE PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE.
Der Deutsche Correspondent (Baltimore), April 23.
[Translated expressly for PUBLIC OPINION.]

THE President's message to Congress upon the subject of the labor complications must give food for reflection to the public mind. This is the first occasion since the formation of our Government that such a message has been addressed to Congress. After all, it points to no threatened danger; but it surely would not have been written had no such danger existed. The expedient herein suggested of a Government commission is, besides, very weak. We have a Labor bureau, a Congressional committee is proposed, and now, further, a civil tribunal is to be established. Day after day, week after week elapses without any change for the better having intervened in the condition of the workingman. To-day we enter upon the seventh week of a strike which touches the means of subsistence of at least sixty thousand persons, and the situation is as cheerless and comfortless as ever. One prospect after another vanishes, and as respects the endeavors of Congress to compose the differences, they are as a wisp of straw, to which no hope can exist of attaching one's self. Gould's monopoly is daily becoming bolder and more confident, and Hoxie telegraphs the most rose-colored reports to his lord and master in New York, in which he maintains that traffic is not at all interrupted, and that everything is going on in the best possible order. The efforts of the St. Louis merchants to arrange the controversy between the monopoly and the laboring men

No. 3.

Gould pub

are rejected by the former in a supercilious and disdainful manner. lished some days ago a stenographic report of his negotiations with Powderly's committee, which was calculated to excite the sympathy of the public in his own behalf, and there are weak-minded people enough, who have suffered themselves to be deceived by it, and who exclaim: "This man Gould means well, and is humane enough; but Hoxie is the villain who thwarts all his good intentions." For ourselves, we take Hoxie to be merely an involuntary tool in the hands of Gould, who has to frustrate all the concessions made by the latter, and who probably, at heart, is sincerely ashamed of the role he is compelled to play. The strikers conduct themselves peacefully, and are seeking to bring over to their side the new laborers engaged by the monopoly. The Congressional committee which was to investigate the causes of the Southwestern strike has begun its labors at Washington, under the presidency of Gov. Curtin; has examined already Powderly, and to-day will examine Gould. The investigation is of very little practical value, for, at the moment, the question is not to acquire information through Jay Gould as to the development of the order of the "Knights of Labor," or of the profits of the Southwestern railroad system, but to avert a great catastrophe, which must inevitably ensue if the affairs of thirteen thousand workingmen are not soon brought to some form of adjustment. When one sees a match burning which leads into a powder magazine, it is no moment to ruminate upon the material out of which the match is made, or to rack one's brains over the miscreant who has laid it, but he should promptly avert the danger. That the Congressional committee will succeed in doing this, unfortunately, we fear there exists but a slender prospect. New York Times (Ind.), April 23.

No one will dispute the justice of the President's observations about the value of labor and the right of workingmen to a full share of the benefits of legislation. But our population is made up of workingmen, and as citizens they are hardly subject to classification. National legislation, so far as it affects citizens, is necessarily general in its character, and it is a difficult matter to apply it to classes or to recognize classes at all. It is doubtless true that discontent is in many cases caused by the "grasping and heedless exactions of employers," but that is a matter that can not be reached by national legislation, and if discontent arises in some part from an "alleged discrimination in favor of capital as an object of governmental atten tion," the logical cure is to cease such "alleged discrimination." Though these reflections upon causes present no tangible ground for legislative intervention, the existence of ever-recurring disputes is a broad fact that may perhaps be dealt with. The President thinks that the proper theory on which to proceed in dealing with it is that of voluntary arbitration This is generally admitted, and there is really no obstacle in the way of carrying it out, provided the parties to disputes are disposed to be reasonable and are willing to submit their claims to arbitration and abide by the result. The different trades which have their own organizations could without difficulty adopt a system of arbitration; States can provide for official methods of constituting such a system, and the scope for national action in the matter is really very limited, while the necessity or utility of it is not altogether evident. It is often forgotten that the United States Government is only an agency of the whole people for certain specific purposes, and that they are left to other instrumentalities to accomplish those ends for which that agency is not necessary or well adapted. However, as it is only proposed to clothe the head of the Labor Bureau with the power to hear disputes voluntarily submitted to it by the parties, and to render decisions which may or may not be accepted and which it would have no power to enforce, its constitutional authority would not be likely to be called in question. It could do no harm, and there is a possibilty that it might do good, if so constituted as to command confidence. By inquiry into cases of dissatisfaction, and by recommendation and counsel, it might do something to prevent or allay troubles. There is little ground for believing that it would accomplish much for the settlement of such contests as those which have induced the President to address Congress on the subject. The latest difficulties have sprung wholly from unreasonable demands and a refusal to listen to reason, and when no unreasonable demands are made or insisted upon there will be no difficulty in finding means for settling disputes. Such a commission as the President suggests might serve a useful purpose and help in the general adjustment of the relations of capital and labor by contributing to a better understanding of them, but what could it do for men who refuse to work because other men are allowed to work or be. cause some man is not employed by somebody who does not want him?

Chicago Times (Ind.), April 23.

THE recommendations of the Executive upon this question are not characterized by the sturdy common-sense and practical wisdom which have distinguished most of his former official deliverances. At a time when clear thinking and sound reasoning upon economic problems have all but vanished from the field of American statesmanship, it is most unfortunate that the President should have given the sanction of his influence and authority to the mischievous delusion that a remedy is to be found in legislation for evils whose sources lie far beyond its reach. There is nothing now to prevent the widest application of the principle of voluntary arbitration as a means of adjusting differences between the workingman and his employer. Whenever they are unable to agree as to wages, hours of labor, or any other matter growing out of their mutual relations, they are at perfect liberty to refer the

case to arbitrators. Either party is also at liberty to abide by the decisions of the arbitrators or not, as he may elect. It is not within the potency of a legislative enactment to alter these conditions in any degree. Compulsory arbitration is a misnomer, a contradiction of terms, a practical impossibility. Congress can do a good many things, but it cannot compel citizens who have not been convicted of crime to labor against their will. Neither can it control railroad corporations or manufacturers or merchants to employ men whom they do not want, or to pay a higher rate of wages than they feel able or willing to pay. The most and best that the Government can do for the workingman, or for any other citizen, is to afford him adequate protection in his person and property. The authorities can best promote the interests of all who labor with hand or brain by maintaining resolutely the supremacy of the law. Congress can do little for the wage-earners except to make the burdens of government as light upon their shoulders as possible, and to remove all unnecessary obstructions and hindrances to the exchange of the products of their toil. When the several branches of the Government, legislative, executive, and judicial, have done their full duty in these respects, they have exhausted their powers. The relations of labor and capital must then be left to adjust themselves, subject to the inexorable economic laws which are above and beyond the authority of president, parliament, or judge.

Washington Post (Dem.), April 23.

THE special message which the President sent to Congress yesterday is timely and important, both as regards its subject and its recommendations. Never before in the history of the nation has the labor problem presented so many difficult and threatening aspects. It is now generally felt and conceded to be of a nature to affect the prosperity of every interest and to involve in a very large measure the welfare of society. It is because the relations of labor are so extensive, fundamental and indispensable that the propriety of special legislation arises. Not only has the workingman an equal right with all other classes of citizens to such encouragement and protection of his interests as may be secured by statutory enactments and the operation of governmental functions, but society also has a right to such immunity from class or trade disputes as law may be competent to afford. Such legislation, the President urges, "should be calmly and deliberately undertaken, with no purpose of satisfying unreasonable demands or gaining partisan advantage." The message recognizes-what is now a matter of universal acknowledgment-that the simple and rational mode of composing the disputes which are liable to arise between laboring men and their employers is to be found in the application of the principle of voluntary arbitration. But the President suggests "that instead of arbitrators chosen in the heat of conflicting claims" a commission of labor to consist of three members, who shall be regular officers of the Government, may be created. It is probable that the efficiency of such a body would increase with its experience, and that all parties to a dispute within the scope of its duties would speedily come to prefer the experience and trained quality of the official arbitrator to the cruder consideration and action of one more limited in knowledge of such cases. It is very certain that the decisions of such a commission as is indicated would have immense weight with the general public. Congress has its attention already directed to this labor question, and seems in a mood to deal with it thoroughly. It will find the President's suggestions deserving of its most careful consideration.

The New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, April 23.
[Translated expressly for PUBLIC OPINION.]

HAD the President's message, which to-day is lying before us, had even no further significance than that it was Mr. Cleveland's contribution to the labor question, every unprejudiced mind must admit that it is among the most valuable, if not the most valuable, which has as yet been delivered. Indeed, from the point of view as to what the Confederation can do for a removal of labor troubles, one can go still further. As compared with the attempts of the House of Representatives, at one time falling short of the work, at another shooting far beyond it, the proposition of the President is like Columbus' egg. Mr. Cleveland shows that he perfectly well understands how to overcome the difficulty; his language is pithy, and he discards from his mind every art of the domagogue, the temptation to employ which was certainly inviting. In his statement of the occasion of his message he spares neither the capitalists nor the workingmen for the errors they have committed, and he gives Congress plainly to understand that their efforts to crack the nut hitherto have been good for nothing. The O'Neill bill for a court of arbitration, accordingly, even if it could pass the Senate, would not receive his approval, and the special committee in reference to the investigation of the strike of Gould's Southwestern roads he decidedly does not think very highly of, as his warning in the preliminary words, that out of the labor question it would be sought to make party capital, can be clearly seen. The President says something must be done; Congress, as its experiments hitherto prove, is likewise of the same opinion. The latter, therefore, cannot do better than to carry out the President's recommendations.

Philadelphia Times (Ind.), April 23.

labor will hardly be disputed. What seems to be most needed just now is a little cool-headed common sense all around and an adherence to the principles of Constitutional liberty. The principal function of government is to secure justice and to protect every man in the peaceful pursuit of his lawful vocation. It really seems as though we had machinery enough for this purpose already, if only it were rightly and equitably employed.

Cleveland Leader and Herald (Rep.), April 23.

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S message upon the labor question is remarkable, not for originality, for it neither asserts nor suggests anything new, but for the fact that it is the first of the kind ever sent to Congress. It flows from and reflects an intense popular interest in the subject. The President's recommendation for a Federal commission to arbitrate disputes voluntarily submitted to it for judgment is in accord with popular sentiment. There is no doubt a vast amount of good could be effected by such a commission, in State as well as interstate troubles, and that its decrees would be respected, although it could have no power to enforce them. With such a commission in existence, the party to a great labor contention that refused to arbitrate, or that refused to abide by the decision of the arbitrators, would be condemned by the public and forfeit all its sympathy and support. The power of such a commission would be moral only, but it would be tremendous. The force it would exert would be the very refinement of law-which depends upon conscience for obedience. The President has done well to recognize and voice the sober judgment and earnest demand of the people for the institution of an agency that shall prevent or quickly settle the labor troubles that have peculiarly marked the present year, and Congress will act wisely in giving legislative force to his suggestions.

New York Evening Post (Ind.), April 23.

It would have been much more satisfactory if the President had given the exact facts which he thought called for a special message. It would have been helpful if he had stated his own opinion whether the relations of labor and capital had lately taken on any new phase, and whether they are more disturbed now than at any former time. It was incumbent upon him, if he wished to impress thoughtful men, to define labor, and tell whether we are to include in that term the 10,598 contented laborers on the Missouri Pacific Railway, or only the 3,717 who struck without assigning any reason for striking. In default of any precise information, we are driven to other sources of knowledge. The last collection of the statistics of strikes published by Bradstreet's showed the number of men out of employment by their own choice in the whole country to be about 39,000, not a very alarming percentage in a population of about sixty millions. Mr. Powderly, who is supposed to represent the only organization that is making much disturbance, testified before the House Committee that the Knights of Labor numbered 500,000, the number having been "raised" by as much as 200,000 since the date of Mr. Powderly's circular published last month.

New York Star (Dem.), April 23.

WHATEVER may be the immediate result of the message in shaping legislation, its ultimate effect on the effort of workingmen to better their condition will be of incalculable value. Here is a recognition by the highest officer of the republic of the existence of their grievances and of the substantial justice of their demands for the redress of wrongs. This is a sufficient answer to those who fondly imagine that this movement can be met and suppressed by merely ignoring it. It is also a most timely and forcible comment on the impudent pretense of Jay Gould that there is no trouble on his western road demanding investigation, while it is a fact of public notoriety that, so bitter is the discontent on account of troubles originating on that very road, that order is only preserved in an important town in Illinois by keeping the militia of the State in arms for the preservation of the peace, while fugitives Such order as from its justice cannot safely be taken back to the State for trial. once reigned in Warsaw may appear all sufficient to Jay Gould and Mr. Hoxie, but the American people want a peace based on justice and upheld by popular content, and the President expresses their opinion when he proposes a practical measure tending to this result.

Philadelphia Press (Rep.), April 23.

INSTEAD of casual arbitrators chosen in the heat of passion, who come to their work without any special preparation or experience, the President recommends that a labor commission of three members be appointed, who shall be regular officers of the Government and charged with the consideration and settlement, when possible, of all controversies between labor and capital. The value of such a commission would depend altogether upon the quality of its members. If they are men of high character and command the confidence of both employers and employed, such a commission would be very much better than any improvised board of arbitrators and could do a great public service in lessening the friction between labor and capital and clearing away the misconceptions of each side. If, however, the commission should ever be composed of self-seeking politicians and demagogues, its influence would be wholly pernicious. The difficulty of judging the merits of such a commission scheme lies in the necessity of taking the most important element in its value on faith.

Boston Transcript (Ind.), April 23.

THE importance of the labor question appears from President Cleveland's message to Congress recommending an arbitration commission. This labor question enters into political and public matters on many sides. From it have issued the Chinese troubles, It operates powerfully to prevent any proper tariff adjustment.

It is, therefore, one of those problems so comprehensive in its character that its settlement should be on such a basis as to satisfy all parties to the controversy, if the thing be possible. President Cleveland discusses the subject in a judicial spirit for the most part, although there are some who may take exception to his remark that the "discontent of the employed is due in a large degree to the grasping and heedless exactions of employers." A good deal here depends upon the meaning of the

qualifying phrase, "in a large degree," for everybody knows that to some degree "the grasping and heedless exactions of employers" cause strikes.

Baltimore Sun (Ind.), April 23.

A PERMANENT body, non-partisan and experienced, would be able to arrive at decisions that would command general respect, and such a body would be much preferable to the temporary commission appointed as directed by the act recently passed by the House during the pendency of hot disputes. The legislatures and executives of States would, perhaps, at times desire its services, and in questions involving interstate commerce its aid could be offered with the most perfect propriety. The mere existence of such a commission, he believes, would tend to lessen labor troubles. Its lack of power to enforce its decisions would not impair its usefulness, the experience of railroad commissions, with advisory powers only, having shown that such power is not essential to the performance of very important and valuable duties.

N. Y. Commercial Advertiser (Rep.), April 23.

THIS calm and sensible message from the President should be met and dealt with in good faith by Congress. It is unfortunate, possibly, that the House has already committed itself to a bill for special boards of arbitration to which the President now urges the objections we have quoted. But it is to be hoped that the friends of that bill, which was acknowledged to be only tentative in its nature, may see that the legislation recommended by the President springs from more mature consideration of the subject, and more nearly meets the objects sought for in the O'Neill bill. But whatever the action of Congress-and it will not be safe to take much for granted in that direction-the President's message will make a favorable impression on the people, and will help to crystallize public sentiment in the right direction.

Chicago Mail (Ind.), April 23.

THE President has absorbed the voluntary arbitration theory from the columns of the administration organs, undoubtedly, and having no better plan of his own is anxious to have it tried. But how voluntary arbitration is going to settle present or prospective disputes between employés and employers we are at a loss to understand. There is nothing to prevent them from arbitrating voluntarily now, if they wish to do so, and no law, which will not compel them to settle their disputes in the interests of the peace and welfare of the general public, can change for the better the present methods. It is just as reasonable to suppose that the criminal will voluntarily step into jail or that the murderer will voluntarily hang himself for the good of society as it is to expect employers or employés to voluntarily admit that one side or the other is right, and be governed accordingly.

Albany Evening Journal (Rep.), April 23.

To the credit of the President be it said his message is not a "screed" or a political proclamation, designed for effect upon the public; but is the presentation in rough outline of a solution of the problem, more sensible than any which has yet fallen under our observation. So far as arbitration can accomplish anything President Cleveland's method of applying it is possibly as judicious a method as can be devised. Yet, after all, arbitration could be of no avail in cases where strikes are ordered simply because employers retain the services of men who decline to join labor organizations, and this has been the foolish cause of many of the recent strikes. No legislation can be devised which will take the place of common sense and fair play.

Boston Herald (Ind.), April 23.

THE President's message on the labor question is a most acceptable contribution toward the settlement of the leading issue of the day. The Constitution not only gives the executive the right, but it imposes upon him the duty of recommending to Congress such legislation as he may deem necessary and expedient. In the conscientious discharge of this obligation, Mr. Cleveland has suggested a measure which looks, at once, simple, practical, inexpensive and equitable. Having all these qualities, it contains, as we measure it, the promise of doing a great deal of good, unbalanced by any chance of doing harm.

Pittsburgh Dispatch (Ind.), April 23.

Ir is to be regretted, and yet it affords a striking illustration of the political tendency in that direction, that the President is so far affected by the political predilection for establishing commissions to take charge of everything, as to recommend the establishment of a permanent commission to arbitrate labor disputes. Whether his opinion is influenced by the erection through that means of three more wellpaid offices, is of little importance, in view of the manifest unsuitability of such a method of treating pending troubles.

Washington Critic (Ind.), April 23.

THE President's recommendation is good as far as it goes, and goes a little further than the House Arbitration bill, by making the Commission a permanent institution, instead of calling in new arbitrators every time a new question is to be heard. But the country needs something more efficacious just now than soothing syrup of this sort, and it is somewhat strange that with four hundred legislative doctors at the Capitol not one has been able to strike for the root of the disease.

N. Y. Mail and Express (Rep.), April 23.

CONGRESS needed no hint or advice from the President on this question. It has set him an example of attention to the labor problem. It has not been enlightened by the message, and it will simply consummate the work for which its thorough debates have been a preparation by creating Federal tribunals of arbitration whose moral authority will be enforced by that instructed and impartial public opinion which has solved for us so many problems that seemed incapable of solution.

eral auspices, with the right of the railroads to appeal for protection to United States courts instead of State courts. Mr. Gould is unquestionably in favor of centralization. He might be induced to favor a change of the form of government. Something neat in the Imperial way would, no doubt, suit him.

The Philadelphia Evening News, April 23.

AFTER all the debates in the House on the labor question, the passage of a labor resolution, the creation of a special committee to investigate the labor troubles on the Gould system, and the introduction of a bill in the Senate for a commission of arbitrators, it is just a bit funny to find Grover coming in at this stage with a message in which he is "constrained to recommend to Congress legislation upon this serious and pressing subject." Still, the message is in time for 1888.

Boston Journal (Rep.), April 23.

SUCH a tribunal as the President suggests would seem to be more fitting than one made up largely of members of Congress. All that any board can do is to seek to conciliate differences, no one yet assuming that Congress or any other body can enforce the decisions of any commission. The fact, however, should not deter Congress from the policy of arbitrating the differences which are now seriously disturbing the business and industry of the country.

Troy, N. Y., Times (Rep.), April 23.

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S message to Congress upon existing labor troubles discusses the situation in a calm and equable temper, and its suggestions accord with the principles of our form of government. It meets in excellent spirit a problem threatening the country with grave trouble if there shall not speedily be found a just and satisfactory solution, acceptable to all interests and affording reasonnble hope of permanent pacification.

Chicago Inter-Ocean (Rep.), April 23.

THE President's message on the labor troubles is written in most excellent spirit, but his observations are better than his recommendations. The idea of arbitration is based on the choosing by the contending parties of fair-minded men to represent both sides. The plan recommended by the President fails to take cognizance of what disputing parties regard as most vital in arbitration.

Buffalo Courier (Dem.), April 23.

WE believe that the recommendations of the President are worthy of the immediate and the favorable consideration of Congress. The methods of arbitration that he proposes are certainly more practicable and commendable than are the several crude bills now pending. The message is timely, and it will without doubt call forth an interesting discussion in all parts of the country.

Memphis Avalanche (Dem.), April 23.

THE President's suggestion of a sort of advisory arbitration commission strikes us as perhaps wise when nobody has anything better to offer. It does not strike us as a solution of the problem or as a step directly toward a solution. Sometimes, however, any step that is a change brings about a new situation which of itself suggests further and better remedial measures.

Brooklyn Times (Rep.), April 23.

OF COURSE the obvious objection will be made that unless some penalty is attached to the refusal, on the part of the employers or employed, to accept the decision of such a board of arbitration as the President suggests, its decisions might be disregarded. Nevertheless, the suggestion is a good one, and Congress will do well to carry it into effect without delay.

Washington Star (Ind.), April 23.

MUCH time, trouble and exasperation would undoubtedly be saved if there were always on duty a tribunal whose special business it should be to act as a peacemaker when capital and labor get in collision. Congress could do little harm, and might accomplish a great deal of good, by giving the President's plan a trial, at all events.

The Milwaukee Wisconsin (Rep.), April 23. PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S official contribution to the solution of the labor-strikes problem is an official blunder. As a remedy when the disease is passive, President Cleveland's prescription is admirable; as a remedy when the ailment is active and virulent, and when only a remedy is imperatively needed, it is absolutely good for nothing.

IN one of the ablest messages ever sent to Congress President Cleveland yesterday recommended the establishment of a national board of arbitration.

From the Courrier des Etats-Unis, April 24.
[Translated expressly for PUBLIC OPINION.]

It is proper, indeed, that the Chief of the State should bear his part in throwing light upon the inquiry as to the best means of restoring tranquility to the public interests at a moment when the equilibrium of the relations between their essential elements is deeply disturbed. Here, it must be admitted, that the question has advanced a step, a way is traced out, and every one is agreed upon the point that arbitration, in the present phase of the problem, is the most appropriate mode of arranging the differences which have arisen between the employer and his workThe House of Representatives in its yesterday's session did not enter into an immediate discussion upon the ground-work of the question. The conclusion

men.