of a Robin Hood or a Captain Kidd. The demand does not arise out of an insufficient revenue, for Treasury experts confidently state that in a short time the revenue will be ample for all expenses of the Government. The bonds are demanded that the Government may purchase gold with them to pay it out in exchange for non-interest-bearing paper. Upon the face of the Treasury notes and by the clear letter of the law, the Government may redeem them in either gold or silver coin. The silver dollars have never depreciated a shade. Their purchasing and paying power have always been equal to that of the gold dollar. The Treasury is running over with silver dollars and with bullion out of which to coin them.

Kansas City Star: The message is a plain, strong appeal for the salvation of the credit of the Nation. Silver men may denounce it as a complete surrender to the bankers, partisans may decry it as partisans do everything originated by their opponents, but the solid, common sense of the country will recognize the message for just what it is—namely, a patriot's appeal to patriots for such legislation as will forever banish the uncertainty and lack of confidence which underlies the business troubles of this country,

THE NEWSPAPERS AND THE MESSAGE. Springfield Republican (Ind.): The leading newspapers of the East and central West as a rule indorse the President's financial recommendations. There are, however, some exceptions. The Boston Herald, being opposed to the retirement of the greenbacks, cannot approve of the whole executive program. Nearly all the New York papers support the recommendations-all except the Tribune, which is against the retirement of the legal tenders, and the Sun, which is against anything the President may propose.

Greater unanimity of opinion in support of the plan is to be found in Philadelphia, with the organs of the Manufacturers' Club, which has silver leanings, yet to be heard from. The Chicago Tribune, Republican, Record, Independent, and Herald, Democratic, indorse the whole proposition; while the Inter Ocean, silver Republican, and Times, silver Democrat, denounce it. All papers and persons, in fact, with any leanings at all to silver, may be counted in the opposition. It is noticeable that all the Boston and New York bankers interviewed warmly commend the President's plan.

The free silver and cheap-money organs in the South are rejoicing in the present situation of the National Treasury, and are lifting up their voices with one accord in protest against bond issues and the retirement of the greenbacks. The Atlanta (Ga.) Constitution, which is one of the worst of these shouters, and whose guiding political principle is hatred of Cleveland and opposition to everything he advocates, declares that "the people of this country, outside the hotbeds of gold-buggery and Shylockism, do not care how soon gold payments are suspended." None of the Southern free silver newspapers, so far as we have seen, approve the proposed issue, and one or two sound-money newspapers also oppose it. The utterances of the most solid of the Southern newspapers prove that the Vests, Harrises and Pughs and the silver-or-nothing crowd in both Houses do not fairly represent the solid sense of the South. There is a strong sound-money sentiment in that section which ought to and probably will find representation in Congress when the vote is taken on the President's plan.

Boston Transcript (Ind. Rep.): The President's message has been received by the friends of sound money and the influential press generally with decided approval. The Chicago Tribune says that "every Republican Senator and Representative should vote for his recommendations, and show that they are glad to be able to support a Democratic President in doing his duty by the people."

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THE JONES FINANCIAL BILL.

Salt Lake City Tribune (Rep.): The Denver News repudiates Senator Jones's silver bill on the ground that it provides for issuing a heavy amount of bonds and does not openly declare for free silver at 16 to 1. We take a different view because we know that Senator Jones, of Arkansas, is as sincere a silver man as Senator Jones, of Nevada. He says nothing about 16 to 1 in his bill, but he provides for the absorption of every ounce of silver that American citizens can carry to the Treasury Department, and, further than that, that silver shall be coined into dollars of 4124 standard grains. That is 16 to 1. Other men criticising the bill, say that with such a bill as that, with only American citizens permitted to carry bullion to the mint, the price of silver will not advance at all in London; that the bill will be valueless on that account. Now, we look at it this way. We believe under that bill every ounce of AmerIcan and Mexican silver would be carried to the mints of the United

States. The Mexican silver would probably come through the hands of the Kansas City dealers. With all the silver of the United States and of Mexico absorbed, the rest of the world could not supply enough to hold prices where they are now. We believe it would bring about full remonetization in a few days. We are sure that were it done it would cause silver to go back to $1.00 or $1.10 an ounce. With that accomplished, it would be a comparatively easy thing next winter, when Congress meets, to re-establish absolute free coinage, and we think the mistake the News, Senator Stewart and others make is that to stand off, with silver in the commercial market only worth about 60 cents an ounce, and to demand that by an edict of the Government it should at once be declared to be worth $1.2929.

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COLORADO'S EXPERIMENT WITH POPULISM.

THE Populist movement in Colorado is not identical, either in causes or development, with the corresponding movement in Kansas, Nebraska and the South. The real influence which suddenly swelled the Populist vote from 6 per cent to 47 per cent of the total vote of the State, is found not in the Ocala platform of the Farmers' Alliance, nor in the vagaries of the Omaha platform, but in the attitude of the two great National parties on the question of bimetallism. The voters of Colorado of all parties are practically unanimous in the advocacy of bimetallism. Long prior to the National conventions of 1892 there had developed an intense sentiment that the policy of gold monometallism was destructive not only to the interests of Colorado, but to manufacturing, producing and commercial interests throughout the United States. In the hope of influencing National policy, "silver clubs" were organized throughout the State in the winter of 1891 and 1892, the members of which were pledged to vote for no Presidential candidate who was not committed, and whose party was not committed, to the free coinage of silver. Delegates and organized committtees labored with the Republicans at Minneapolis, and afterward with the Democrats at Chicago. Their efforts were fruitless. Then followed the Populist Convention at Omaha, with a declaration in favor of bimetallism, but with a demand for paper money, to be distributed in accordance with the subtreasury scheme of the Farmers' Alliance, "or a better system" (noscitur ex sociis). Here, then, was a National party pledged to the free coinage of silver. Thousands of Colorado voters turned to it, not because they accepted its doctrines on other subjects-for they ignored them-but for the purpose of protesting against the attitude of the two dominant parties on the one subject of coinage. At the ensuing election the Weaver electors received a plurality of nearly 15,000 votes in Colorado, and the Populist candidate for governor was elected by a plurality of 5,436. Thus Colorado soon found herself subject to the full sway of a Populist regime.

From the foregoing statement it will be apparent that Populist ascendancy in Colorado was accidental. It did not represent the judgment of the great mass of citizens. It was with a shock of surprise that vigorous and enterprising, albeit conservative, Colorado suddenly discovered that she had put her neck into the yoke of Populist control. Since the character of a State administration must usually be, and in this case was, determined by the policy and conduct of the man who happened to be chief executive, it is fair to inquire whether any peculiar or radical features should be attributed to the party and its principles, or to the idiosyncrasies of the man. After a gubernatorial career of nearly two years, Governor Waite sought a renomination. The State convention of his party gave it to him with great unanimity and boundless enthusiasm. At the ensuing election he received more than 40 per cent of the total vote of the State. These facts can be considered only as an approval and ratification by his party of his public acts.

The dominant idea which permeates the Omaha Populist platform and its immediate predecessors is a concentrated paternalism. The Government ownership of railroads, of telegraph lines, of telephones; the reclamation by the Government of lands held by corporations and by aliens; the abolition of banks; the direct issue of full legal-tender money, not supported by a coin reserve; the lending of this money to the people on the security of "imperishable farm products," stored in Government warehouses-these are characteristic features of Populism. The party also appeals to and emphasizes class distinctions. It calls for a "union of the labor forces of the United States"; it declares that if any will not work neither shall he eat'"; it sees naught but wickedness in the two great parties, and alleges that "corruption dominates the ballot-box, the legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench." Colorado in its State administration under Governor Waite gave an illustration of the practical operation of these Populist principles. Paternalism manifested itself in the assumption that the Governor is "the Gov

ernment." Class distinctions were emphasized and increased by the announcement that the rich have had their day and turn about is fair play. The courts, if they differed from the executive in the construction of constitution or statutes, were corrupt usurpers. Under such influences the spirit of anarchy was fostered and grew apace, and the State was brought to the very verge of civil war.

The Eastern press makes an egregious error in assuming, as has frequently been done of late, that the Republican victory in Colorado denotes defeat of the silver cause. It does not imply the slightest diminution of bimetallic sentiment. Certainly, a party which wins its victory under the leadership of such men as Senator Teller and Senator Wolcott can hardly be said to have grown less zealous in the cause of bimetallism. The Republican party of Colorado believes in gold and silver coin as the legal-tender money of the country, and as the basis of currency issues. It looks with some amusement at the present proximity of extremes-the bankers at Baltimore and the Populists of the Farmers' Alliance-the one advocating a paper currency based on stockholders' liability and bank assets (for example, bank buildings, furniture and fixtures, and bills receivable); the other advocating a paper money issued on the security of "imperishable farm products," such as wheat, cotton and tobacco. It wonderingly inquires whether we shall depend in future for our money supplies "upon the quartz mills or the pulp mills of the country." The combination of doctrines labeled "Populism" furnishes, however, no panacea for existing ills. Colorado is not likely to repeat her experiment in Populist government.-Joel F. Vaile, in the Forum, New York, February.

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GOVERNOR MCKINLEY SUSTAINS COLONEL COIT.

Cleveland Plain Dealer (Dem.).

I AM the person against whom the indictment should have been returned. It was by my orders that the soldiers wero at Washington C. H., and if any one was to be indicted it should surely have been the person whose order sent the militia there.-Governor McKinley.

That has the right ring in it, and every good citizen in Ohio will respect Governor McKinley for uttering those manly words. He is the general of the militia in reality, as Governor of the State. By his order. Colonel Coit and the militia under him were sent to Washington C. H. to suppress a riot. These men went there as in duty bound they should; they suppressed the riot; they saved the jail from being broken open, maintained the majesty of the law, and they deserve each and all of them credit and not condemnation.

There was never a fairer hearing granted than at the court-martial, or military investigation. Every one who knew anything against the conduct of Colonel Coit or any of his officers or men, had full opportunity to give evidence, and they did it, and the Colonel was acquitted, and the people of the State said, Amen.

He is a brave man; he is a good soldier; he is a prudent officer; he obeyed the orders, and we are glad that he was acquitted. The petty local spite at Washington C. H. against Colonel Coit will not prevail against him. On what grounds a grand jury could find indictments in the face of the evidence that was shown at the investigation, is more than a sane man can understand. If an officer in the discharge of his duty, under the orders of the Governor of the State, in putting down a riot, in saving public property, in the maintenance of law and order, is to be arrested and tried for manslaughter while in the performance of his duty, then farewell all military organizations in the State of Ohio, and farewell all efforts by the assistance of military companies to the enforcement of law.

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"POOR, IGNORANT GRESHAM."

New York Evening Post (Ind.): Poor, ignorant Gresham goes on his blundering way, getting one troublesome international question after another settled in the most stupid fashion. His Japanese treaty, for not negotiating which, and then for negotiating which, he was so justly denounced and exposed by the Tribune, has just been ratified by the Senate. Prior to that his Chinese treaty, covering so many points of international difficulty, was negotiated and ratified. In between came his dealings with Great Britain, resulting in the final abandonment of the English protectorate over the Mosquito Coast-a protectorate which had bothered all the really great minds in the State Department since Marcy's day, only to be disposed of forever by an ignoramus. These three great achievements in two years by the most imbecile Secretary that ever dismissed a subordinate and forced him to write for the Tribune, show us what might have been done in the same time by a man of average ability. One has to go back to the days of Hamilton Fish to find a parallel to

what this laughing stock of the Nation has accomplished. It would add much to the general hilarity over his colossal and criminal blundering if he should succeed, in the next two years, in negotiating a treaty of arbitration with the European Powers. That would complete and round out a career of a dunderhead in a way to make it wholly unique.

Philadelphia Telegraph (Rep.): In ratifying the treaty with Japan, the Senate adopted the very commendable precaution of abrogating the eleven-year clause which Secretary Gresham's maladroit management permitted to be embodied in the document, and replaced it with a provision for modifying or annulling the treaty on one year's notice. This is the only sane way of formulating a treaty, and is, moreover, in accordance with the methods usually pursued in similar negotiations with other nations. We cannot reasonably be asked to tie up the hands of our Government for ten years and a year's notice, especially with an Oriental nation just emerging from a state of semi-barbarism. The Senate has rebuked the Secretary's folly in this matter, and has sharply corrected the blunders he allowed the State Department to fall into.

Philadelphia Press (Rep.): The Japanese treaty was ratified, as it should have been. After the success of Japan in the current war it is idle to suppose that ex-territorial rights will be resumed in that country at the close of the term set by the treaty for its abrogation by either party, and the provision that the treaty can be abrogated by either party on a year's notice will amount to little, except as to the commercial and shipping privileges. Japan has been for several years a country which has had a right to ask full sovereignty over all the strangers within its borders, and while it will be some time before this is granted even under the present treaty, its ratification is a measure of substantial justice which the Senate did well to pass by a unanimous vote.

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MR. PLATT'S DICTATORSHIP IN NEW YORK.

THE eyes of the country have been turned with no little interest upon the factional tendency in the ranks of the victorious Republicans of the State of New York. There has been only one question at issue, however, and that has been whether Mr. Thomas C. Platt should or should not be recognized as the Republican dictator. Mr. Platt on the Republican side is more ambitious than any gentleman of corresponding position in the other party has ever been; for whereas Mr. David B. Hill was ambitious to control the Democratic party in the State at large, and Mr. Richard Croker was equally determined to control that party in the city of New York, neither one of them ever supposed that he could successfully fill the two boss-ships at the same time. Mr. Platt's aspirations, therefore, are without precedent in either party. He has undertaken to secure direct personal control of the machinery of Republican organization in the State of New York, and to control with equal directness the county organization for the city of New York. Moreover, he attempted with success at the opening of the year to dictate the organization of the Republican legislature, just as he succeeded last summer in controlling the State convention and dictating the nomination for Governor of the Hon. Levi P. Morton.

Mr. Platt's methods resemble Mr. Croker's rather than Mr. Hill's, inasmuch as Mr. Hill has always been a public man, an officeholder, and an outspoken political leader, while Mr. Platt and Mr. Croker have remained in private life pulling wires behind the scenes. The secret of Mr. Croker's now disintegrated power and influence has become quite generally understood. Mr. Platt's has not been so minutely analyzed, and it remains to many intelligent minds a puzzling mystery. So far as we are aware, not one of Mr. Platt's followers has ever intimated that their leader was an exceptionally wise and authoritative student of public questions, yet he is permitted to dictate legislation. It may be a mistake to assume that Governor Morton's policy is directed by Mr. Platt at all points, yet such seems to be the general belief in New York. Even the report of the Senate committee which, with Mr. Lexow as chairman, investigated the police corruption of New York City, has been shaped to meet Mr. Platt's views regarding the reorganization of the police force. The report in itself is a matter of minor consequence, because the facts of the investigation were made fully public from day to day, and the whole world has been able to form its conclusions.

It is unfortunate in the extreme that the Senate committee should not have been content to allow the New York reformers to draft the reform legislation. Instead, they seem to have preferred to do the bidding of a politician like Mr. Platt, who cannot possibly be actuated by the sole and unmixed motive of a desire to lift the municipal services of New York out of the domain of party politics. We do not for a moment wish to accuse Mr. Platt either of corrupt designs or of misconduct in any regard.

It is only that Mr. Platt is a party man pure and simple, who has made it his business to consult always and everywhere what he considers the interests of the Republican party as such. But the best Republicans in New York City want a municipal government which shall be removed from the sphere of party politics, and want a police service which shall as little taint of partisanship as the United States army or navy. It is certain that the reform forces of New York will not easily accept Mr. Platt's determinations, nor is there any prospect that Mayor Strong will acquiesce. Thus there seems to be a stormy time ahead, in which the reformers will have to fight as valiantly to secure the substantial results of their success as they fought last autumn to gain the victory at the polls. —February Review of Reviews.

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ARBITRATION BILLS.

Journal of the Knights of Labor: There are two arbitration bills now before the House of Representatives and one Labor Commission bill-the Wright arbitration bill, the Olney arbitration bill and the Phillips mixed commission bill. There is much that is good in all of them, and it need not take the balance of the session of Congress to perfect a measure that will, temporarily at least, put into operation a law for the arbitration of railroad difficulties that will be a test of this method of averting disastrous stoppage of commerce and oppression of working people by greedy corporations and general managers.

Attorney-General Olney's bill undoubtedly possesses certain merits not covered by the Wright bill, but the Attorney-General is wrong when he advises the elimination of the Pullman section of the Wright bill. That provision of the Olney bill making it a misdemeanor for a corporation to make employes sign agreements to pay into relief societies or to sever connection with labor organizations is a good one, but the provision of time notice to employers by employes and the attempt to tell labor organizations incorporated when they shall terminate the affiliation of their membership are fatal to the bill. If the latter be a good provision, why not also provide that when an officer of a railroad company asks an employe to work for a lower wage his connection with the corporation shall be terminated and he shall not be liable individually for its debts nor a beneficiary of its assets?

The Phillips bill, which has been also reported favorably by Chairman McGann, of the Labor Committee, is a good measure. It provides for a commission made up of the representatives of the real producing classes, who can collate information and with something like practical common sense recommend needed legislation to Congress. Being non-political and having time to really consider the questions of greatest moment to agriculturists and workers, we may secure some practicable results from their work. At least the information they could furnish the people would be worth all the money expended.

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TO MAKE THE INDIAN A FARMER.

The Red Man, the monthly paper published at the Indian Industrial School at Carlisle, Pa., has this to say editorially concerning allotment in severalty:

"Captain Woodson, United States Army, acting agent for the Cheyenne and Arapahoe in Oklahoma, proposes to take $500,000 from the $1,000,000 general fund belonging to those Indians and build a house on one of the allotments for each family and then furnish such family with agricultural implements, seeds, stock, chickens, etc., sufficient to make a beginning toward utilizing the allotment for the support of the family, having district farmers to instruct.

Certainly! Why not? What could be more common sense? "To give a blanket, tepee Indian an allotment of land and no help to occupy and work it and say to him 'root, hog, or die,' and then stand off and mock at his failure is criminally the quintessence of cruelty; not less so than to put him in a boat in midocean and expect him to survive unprovided with either propelling or directing force. Allotment must not be set down a failure until it has been thoroughly tried under the best conditions. We believe Captain Woodson can carry out his excellent plan and is abundantly able to see that every dollar goes economically and directly to the fullest benefit of the Indian and that no dollars wrongfully accrue to his neighbor-the greedy, alert, designing white man."

And by the way, a supplement to the current number of The Red Man presents a graphic and, to anybody who has faith in the human face as an index of character, a convincing refutation of the theory that "there is no good Indian except a dead Indian." The supplement is an excellent photograph of a group of sixteen Indian youths who make

The tribes represented are

up the Carlisle Indian School football team. the Oneida, Nez Perce, Gros Ventre, Piegan, Kiowa, Chippewa, Sioux, Seneca, Omaha and Tuscarora. It is not easy to understand how any. body can look upon the pictured faces of these young men, even if he has never seen similar types in the flesh, and not feel that there is a better solution of the Indian problem than that of shooting, starving or otherwise exterminating these original "Americans." Captain Pratt, the superintendent of the Carlisle School, is to be commended for giving this ocular demonstration of the civilizing power of humane, intelligent, sympathetic treatment such as characterizes the methods of the Carlisle School.

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SENATOR MORGAN ON NEGRO EMIGRATION TO AFRICA. SENATOR MORGAN, of Alabama, in an address at the 78th annual meeting of the American Colonization Society, held recently in Washington, advocated negro emigration to Africa. He avowed his deep interest in the welfare of the negro. He said that since its incorporation in 1817 the Society had expended $3,200,000 in the cause, and had assisted in finding homes in Liberia for 22,146 persons. He asserted that in resources Africa was the richest of the continents. He would have the Society re-incorporate under act of Congress, form a stock company, the shares to be owned by negroes, and purchase ships to run between New Orleans or Charleston and Liberia and the Congo Free State; the ships to be manned with negro crews and commanded by negro captains, and to carry American manufactures and negro emigrants. He would undertake to secure the enactment of commercial treaties between the United States and the African countries mentioned, providing for free trade. Bishop Henry M. Turner, of the African M. E. Church, who has long been an active member of the Society, commends Senator Morgan's views. Some other representative negroes favor emigration; but the great majority of them think it impossible to bring about a general return of their race to Africa, even if it were desirable; and moreover, that the advocates of emigration are preaching a "gospel of despair and retarding the development of the negro in this country, where, as they believe, he is bound to stay.

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VARIOUS TOPICS.

New York Press (Rep.): President Cleveland's purpose to maintain gold payments is one in which he should be encouraged. Republicans owe it to themselves and to the country to point out distinctly why the Treasury is now in distress, and to throw and to keep upon Cleveland and his party the responsibility for the situation they have created; but, none the less, it is the duty of Republicans to co-operate with the President and to sustain his efforts to bring about a better state of things.

Springfield Republican: The National Woman Suffrage Convention at Atlanta closed, Saturday, with the election of the old board of officers, Susan B. Anthony being president, Rev. Anna Shaw, of Philadelphia, vice president, Rachael Foster Avery recording secretary, Alice Stone Blackwell corresponding secretary, Harriet Upton treasurer and Carrie Lane Chapman-Catt chairman of the committee on organization. The reception of the suffragists by the people of Atlanta was most cordial, and all that Southern hospitality could do was done for the delegates. The cause gained much in the estimation of the Atlanta public because of the coupling with woman suffrage the scheme of an educational test, which, it was declared by several speakers, would at once do justice to women and remove the feared evils of the domination of the ignorant negro vote.

Toronto Week: It is pleasing to see the better class of journals in the United States taking honorable ground in regard to the obligation of the Nation to pay the amount of damages agreed on between the respective Governments concerned in the Bering Sea matter.

GEORGE F. UNDERHILL in 1893 caused the arrest of General Jose Manuel Hernandez in this country for having ordered Underhill's arrest during a Venezuelan revolution in 1892. The United States Circuit Court of Appeals at New York has decided that it would imperil the amicable relations between States and vex the peace of nations to permit the sovereign acts or political transactions of one country to be reviewed by the courts of another.

A MEMORIAL signed by 354 members of Parliament, representing all shades of political opinion in Great Britain, has been presented to President Cleveland by W. R. Cremer, M. P. It proposes that all differences between that country and the United States, which cannot be settled by the usual diplomatic methods, shall be submitted to arbitration.

THE School of Applied Ethics, which has held three summer sessions at Plymouth, Mass., announces a winter session of eighteen lectures and conferences to be held at Washington, D. C., beginning February 13 and continuing seven weeks. The course will deal with "Social Problems of the Day, with special reference to the labor question."

THE Ohio Wool Growers' Association, at Columbus, adopted resolutions declaring that the free wool provision of the Tariff act of August 27, 1894, reversing a policy which has continued for more than seventy. eight years, is a colossal political crime against the industries of the whole American people, and is an odious, unjust discrimination against wool growers."

THE Executive Committee of the National Farmers' Alliance, in Chicago, adopted resolutions practically indorsing governmental control of transportation lines; against the repeal of the anti-Pooling law; in favor of the anti-Option bill, and for female suffrage.

Philadelphia Record: Nobody was scared by the revelation from Des Moines, to the effect that during the railway strike last summer it was proposed by some of the hare-brained leaders to seize a Populist State and set up a provincial government; for every one knows that there is too much sturdy loyalty among the bone and sinew of the country to countenance any such treasonable schemes.

Good Government (Civ. Serv. Ref.): The great double-page cartoon in a recent issue of Puck, illustrating the attitude of the two leading political parties toward civil service reform and the folly of their lamentation at seeing President after President raise the barred gate higher, is a study in satirical art. It is one of those appeals to the common sense of the average citizen which reaches its goal more swiftly than a dozen editorial leaders full of criticism and argument.

Cincinnati Journal and Messenger: Some of the religious papers, in commenting on the bill introduced by the Lexow Committee in the New York Legislature, have made the mistake of confusing bi-partisan and non-partisan. Nothing is worse than a bi-partisan commission, and this is what most corrupt legislatures give us when we ask for non-partisan. A bi-partisan commission merely provides that members be taken from both political parties. The result is that in cities the bosses of the two parties divide the appointments between them, and we get the worst men of both parties. A non-partisan commission is one appointed without regard to party, and consists of men opposed to the bosses of both.

CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY.

[From Tuesday, January 29, to Monday, February 4, inclusive.] IN the Senate, debate during the past week has shown a constant tendency to turn upon the financial situation, whatever the question actually before the Senate. Mr. Vest (Dem. Mo.) bitterly attacked the President's financial plan, declaring that its purpose was to weld the gold standard upon the people, and that he must now part company with the President. Mr. Sherman (Rep. Ohio) urged the Senate to take the financial question from the Finance Committee, where action was hopeless by reason of a tie; he arraigned the free silver advocates for pushing their demands to the point of paralyzing legislation; he advocated the issue of bonds in such form that people of small savings might invest in them. Mr. Gorman (Dem. Md.) declared that the Senate would provide some financial remedy, if necessary adding it as a rider to an appropriation bill. The Bankruptcy and District of Columbia Appropriation bills were considered, without action. The House bill to establish a National military park at Gettysburg was passed. The Japanese treaty was ratified, with an amendment providing that the treaty may be abrogated upon one year's notice instead of requiring eleven years' notice. Mr. Mantle, the new Republican Senator from Montana, took his seat; the Senate now consists of 86 members, of whom 43 are Democrats.

In the House, the bill repealing the discriminating duty of one-tenth of a cent per pound on sugar imported from countries paying an export bounty was passed, 239 to 31. The Agricultural Appropriation bill and the Senate bill to revive the rank of Lieutenant-General of the Army for the benefit of General Schofield, were passed. The bill to fund the debt due the Government from the Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific Railroads with 3 per cent fifty-year bonds was discussed at much length, and was finally re-committed (practically defeated) by the unexpectedly large vote of 177 to 108. Messrs. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and Heard, of Missouri, engaged in an altercation during debate, and Mr. Breckinridge struck at Mr. Heard, but later both apologized. The Springer financial bill, embodying the recommendations of the President's special message, was amended in some features by the Committee on Banking and Currency,

and was then reported favorably; yesterday (Monday) a rule was adopted for the consideration of the bill by the House on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, wle the final vote will be taken.

The House Commerce Comu.ittee reported in favor of substituting the House Nicaragua Canal bill for the bill passed by the Senate. The House Committee on Military Affairs reported a bill for reorganizing the Army and increasing the enlisted force from 25,000 to 30,000, at an estimated increased expenditure of about $1,200,000 yearly. In the Senate the credentials of W. R. Reese as Senator from Alabama, signed by R. F. Kolb, who claims to be Governor of the State, were presented, as a basis for con. testing the seat of Mr. Morgan.

DOMESTIC NEWS SUMMARY.

[From Tuesday, January 29, to Monday, February 4.] TUESDAY.-The Arkansas Legislature re-elected United States Senator Berry---The Legislature of Rhode Island passed a bill prohibiting poolselling in that State---Judge Bradley, of the District of Columbia Supreme Court, issued a mandamus directing the Commissioner of Pensions to restore Judge Long's pension to the original figures ---Receivers of the Distilling and Cattle Feeding Company (“Whisky Trust") were appointed by the Federal Court at Chicago---It was discovered that the will of the late ex-Senator Fair had been stolen from the County Clerk's office in San Francisco---C. M. Hughes, Jr., ex-cashier of the First National Bank of Lima, Ohio, was arrested, charged with misappropriating $140,000 of the bank's funds---Mrs. U. S. Grant, widow of the general, stopped at Atlanta on her way to Florida, and received a delegation of Confederate veterans.

WEDNESDAY.-Kansas farmers are happy because the ground is covered with two inches of snow, which practically insures a wheat crop this year--President Eliot, of Harvard, said in his annual address that football had degenerated so as to be a game unfit for colleges---The defalcation of the late cashier Abbott, of the Dover (N. H.) National Bank, has been found by the Bank Examiner to be $97,595.50.

THURSDAY.-The National Board of Trade in session at Washington called upon Congress to pass a financial bill, and, failing in that, to provide for a financial commission---Masked robbers held up a Southern Pacific train near Wilcox, Ariz., blew open the express company's safe and secured $10,000 in Mexican silver---The 27th annual convention of the American Woman's Suffrage Association began at Atlanta, Ga., Susan B. Anthony presiding---Henry L. Einstein bought the New York Press, and employed Congressman Lemuel E. Quigg as editor and publisher Ward McAllister, the New York society leader, died of grip. FRIDAY.-Congressman John L. Wilson was elected United States Senator by the Legislature of Washington---Lawrence Maxwell, Solici tor-General of the United States, resigned, and Holmes Conrad, of Win chester, Va, was appointed in his place---The California Senate has adopted a resolution urging the California Congressmen "to oppose every measure to debase silver as money, and to advocate and vote for free and unlimited coinage at the ratio of 16 to 1"---The Japanese Minister says the Japanese treaty, as amended by the Senate, will not be acceptable to Japan---The National Military Park at Chickamauga, Tenn., will be dedicated next September---Col. N. H. R. Dawson, United States Commissioner of Education during President Cleveland's first term, died at Selma, Ala.

SATURDAY. -Assistant Secretary Curtis, of the Treasury Department, conferred with representatives of foreign bankers in New York City relative to the terms of the new bond issue---A request by President Norton, of one of the Brooklyn trolley lines, for permission to arm all his employes was refused; more violence was reported---The Labor Arbitration bill, as amended and reported to e House by the Labor Committee, is indorsed by Commissioner Wright and a number of prominent labor leaders---Ex-Congressman M. D. Stivers died at Middletown, N. Y.

SUNDAY.-A canvass of the Senate has been made, which shows that upon any legislation along the lines asked for by the President there would be 39 affirmative votes and 47 negative---The New York State Commissioner of Labor, in his annual report, says that recent improvements in labor-saving machinery, especially in the printing trade, have caused a decrease in the number of employes from 20 to 66 per cent--At a large meeting of the Order of Railway Conductors at Chicago it was resolved to recommend that all members be expelled who refuse to renounce all connection with the American Railway Union---There were a few minor assaults by strikers, and some arrests were made, but Brooklyn trolley-cars moved more freely than on any day since the strike was called.

MONDAY.-The President submitted another batch of Hawaiian correspondence, declaring that the State Department had no information of arms being furnished to the royalists by British subjects; in the correspondence was the suggestion by the Hawaiian Minister of the necessity of a United States warship at Honolulu---At Brooklyn 2,000 strikers assembled before the City Hall and petitioned that the franchises of the trolley companies be annulled; the Board of Alderman passed the desired resolution by a vote of 10 to 8---The United States Supreme Court has rendered a decision adverse to Broker Chapman, the recalcitrant Sugar Trust witness.

CIVICS.

*This space will be devoted each week to the promotion of the object of the American Institute of Civics, "Good Government Through Good Citizenship."

***A twenty-page pamphlet, giving details for the organization of current topic clubs, and valuable suggestions as to methods of work will be sent for ten cents. Address, Extension Department, A. I. C., Box 348, Washington, D. C. For further particulars concerning the work of the clubs see page ii.

The articles written for the Extension Department appear in print for the first time on this page.

AN OPEN LETTER FROM COMMISSIONER WRIGHT. DIRECTOR EXTENSION DEPARTMENT,

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CIVICS,

Office of Public Opinion, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: In accordance with your kind invitation to contribute some thoughts relative to arbitration for the Civics page of PUBLIC OPINION, I take pleasure in sending you what I have to say in brief on that subject.

There is no way to settle labor troubles so effectually that they will not recur at intervals. The development of industries brings new complications constantly, brings into play a different set of elements, economic and ethical, and of course differences of opinion will constantly and ever arise. There is, therefore, I repeat, no one method and no series of methods which can be adopted to entirely do away with such controversies, nor, in fact, would it be desirable, could such results be accomplished. Progress depends upon mental friction, upon discussion, and upon the general adoption of improved processes, etc., etc. The constant effort of industry to adapt itself to these improvements and changes creates of itself an ever-shifting labor question,

The most effective method, however, of reducing the severity of labor controversies and of reducing their number, too, lies in the people involved. If they are willing to meet each other on a business basis and consider the variety of differences which come between them, they can, if they will and if they are men of sufficient moral character, adjust all such matters with out strikes and lockouts. If they are not willing to do this, the State has some rights in the matter, and can furnish the means by which some of the controversies can be adjusted. This can be done through the method known as industrial conciliation and arbitration. Arbitration has been called at times the "coupling" between labor and capital. This definition does not cover the case, it seems to me. It is, more properly, the "buffer" between the two forces, preventing damage and a crush. If it were a coupling, as alleged by many, it would effectually unite labor and capital; if it is a buffer, it prevents clash, and at the same time enables the two forces to get on together.

The principles underlying industrial arbitration are both economic and ethical. They are economic in the sense that they prevent waste of energy, waste of funds, losses in various directions, and preserve the integrity of industrial enterprises; they are ethical in the sense that they adjust the moral relations of men on a fair and equitable basis, recognizing the rights of each in the adjustment. Political economists of the older order contend that ethics can have little or no weight in economic matters, and yet they claim that certain legislation is essential in many directions, and would advocate the passage of bills restricting or extending certain conditions. Whenever a law is enacted which in any way restricts or extends the conditions of trade, commerce or transportation, it becomes at once ethical in its effect, because it influences, regulates, and establishes the relations of men to each other and to society. Whenever this occurs, however it occurs, it is ethical. So industrial arbitration, the moment it comes into play, whether through the voluntary action of the parties involved in a controversy or through the efforts of the State, commits the State to ethical action. There should be no antagonism to such ethical action on the part of the State, because the whole machinery of the courts, every action of the Government relative to the settlement of any difficulties, controversies or claims, is an ethical

action in its influences and in its results. Arbitration is no more than this, except it would be impolitic and, to my mind, impossible for the State to indulge in any methods of arbitration along compulsory lines. It can and should establish the machinery to which parties can resort for the settlement of their difficulties, but it should not make such resort compulsory, nor should it compel the enforcement of the award of a board.

The chief value of industrial arbitrati on, it seems to me, lies in a provision for a board, permanently established, to take immediate action, from its own motive, in all great labor controversies, so that the facts may be brought to the attention of the public and the responsibility for the difficulty fixed by official action. It does not seem wise to wait for a fight to be on before a board is established. In such cases there must be more or less partisanship-not of a political nature always, but of a nature which partakes of interest in one or the other of the parties engaged. A permanent board would avoid this and secure the other benefit of having a tribunal ready to act at a moment's notice As it has been expressed by Mr. Kingston, Premier of South Australia, in an exceedingly able and interesting article on arbitration, a government might as well wait for a conflagration to occur before organizing its fire department as to wait for labor troubles to actually exist before providing some means for their adjustment.

The chief reason why arbitration should be provided by the State lies in the view that the public has an interest in the perpetuity of peace and its business welfare. Private strikes, those purely local in their nature, do not interest the public greatly, but strikes involving transportation from State to State and resulting in the paralysis of business are those in which the public has a right-a right far superior to that of either of the parties to the controversy. So while I do not believe in compulsory arbitration, nor in the idea that any arbitration, compulsory or voluntary, can effectually do away with strikes, lockouts and boycotts, I do believe that such arbitration constitutes a great and powerful balancewheel which preserves the stability of industrial forces and helps to secure more thoroughly peaceful relations between the elements, labor and capital, and the public.

The measure now pending in the Congress, known as the McGann bill, provides for three things, each important:

1. That a National board of arbitration shall be constituted for the purposes of conciliation whenever its good offices can be utilized.

2. For the broad investigation of interstate strikes, that the public may be correctly and promptly informed of the facts.

3. For the submission in writing by the parties to a controversy of the difficulties and questions between them to the board for final and effective adjustment.

It does not provide in any sense for compulsory arbitration. It aide, beyond these points, the incorporation of labor organizations, and follows along the lines of the patriotic message of the President in 1886, when he called the attention of the Congress specifically to the necessity of a permanent board of arbitration, a board that could act quickly and without waiting for the heat of a contest. The French Government, by the law of December 27, 1892, has crystallized these principles into its code relating to industrial arbitration, and it is gratifying to the advocates of these measures to know that the law is working with fairly satisfactory results. The measure pending in the Congress of the United States is one which should receive the cordial indorsement of both employers and employes, because it is thoroughly fair to each and does not in any way infringe upon the rights of contract, but its provisions tend to the establishment of the rights of the public in matters relating to transportation, while preserving the integrity and the independence of employer and employe, so far as they should be preserved, in quasi-public matters. The bill, should it become a law, would inevitably result in changing the status of railroad employes from purely corporate employes to quasi-public servants. This is essential for the preservation of peace in transportation. I am, very respectfully,

Comme. Thijfel :

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 16, 1895.