American Citizens and Foreign Insurgents

New York Evening Post

Secretary Olney has rendered a service to good morals and the cause of peace by defining the duties of citizens toward foreign powers with which we are at peace. The letter was written in answer to a request for information addressed to the Department of State by the cashier of a bank in Texas, who wanted to know whether there was any law against the bank's becoming the depository of funds subscribed for aid to the cause of Cuban independence, and also what were the duties of American citizens in the premises from a moral point of view. The Secretary's reply is that there is no adjudicated case and no particular law touching the duties of bankers in receiving money known to be intended for the promotion of insurrection in foreign countries, but that the general duties of citizens toward nations with which we are at peace have been judicially declared by the Supreme Court. Those duties are that the citizen is bound to be at war with any country that the government is at war with, and is equally bound to be at peace with any country that the government is at peace with. This principle, says the court, "lies at the foundation of all government, as there could be no social order or peaceful relations between the citizens of different countries without it." There could not be a sounder maxim. When a rebellion becomes so important that the government of another nation accords to it belligerent rights, a new set of rules comes into play. These are very strictly defined by law, but they need not be now considered, since belligerency has not been conceded to the Cuban rebels.

The Mora Claim Bradstreet's, New York

A request has been made to Spain by the State Department for the settlement of the Mora claim, the amount of which was agreed upon about nine years ago. It was at first declared that the demand made was urgent in its terms, and comment was made upon the point that the demand was put forward at an inopportune time for Spain. The actual circumstances connected with the demand, as explained in later advices from Washington, do not bear out this idea. As a matter of fact, the last Congress passed a resolution calling for the enforcement of this claim, which arose out of the seizure of sugar property of an American citizen resident in Cuba, and it was in compliance with this resolution that a note directing the attention of the Spanish government to the matter anew was sent by the State Department. The note setting forth the position of the United States was, it is now said, as far removed as possible from a threat, or a demand in the offensive sense. It is understood that Spain has claims against the United States which might be pressed for settlement in case of a peremptory demand being made.

Railway Statistics for 1893-94

The following statistics are culled from an advance abstract of the Seventh Statistical Report of the United States Interstate Commerce Commission, for the year ending June 30, 1894:

"Especial attention is called to the peculiar conditions affecting the operation of railways during the year covered by the report. First, the report covers the last four months of the Columbian Exposition, during which time there was an increased passenger traffic. Second, it covers a period of widespread and unprecedented business depression. Third, on June 30, 1894, 192 roads, operating upward of 42,000 miles of line, and representing about one-fourth of the total railway capitalization, were in the hands of receivers. The effect of these conditions is apparent in nearly all of the figures presented.

"The total railway mileage in the United States on June 30, 1894, was 178,708.55, an increase during the year of 2,247.48 miles. The increase during the previous year was 4,897.55 miles.

The percentage of increase in 1894 was less than for any preceding year for which reports have been made to the Commission, and it is not probable that the year ending June 30, 1895, will show much improvement. The total mileage of all tracks, including sidings, was 233,533.67 miles.

"The total number of railway corporations on June 30, 1894, was 1,924, an increase during the year of 22. The movement of consolidation during the year on the basis of mileage involved has been greater than for the year previous; 15 roads, representing 1,734.64 miles, have been merged; 22 roads, representing 2,351.99 miles, have been reorganized; and 14 roads, representing 1,590.34 miles, have been consolidated. A classification of railways on the basis of operated mileage shows that 44 roads, each with a mileage of over 1,000 miles, operate 100,547.29 miles of lines, or 56.30 per cent. of the total mileage of the country; 23 roads, each with a mileage of over 600 and less than 1,000 miles operate, 17,918.35 miles of line, or 10.03 per cent. of the total mileage ; 23 roads, each with a mileage of 400 and less than 600 miles, operate 11,724.00 miles of line, or 6.57 per cent. of the total mileage. Thus 90 roads operate 72.90 per cent. of the entire mileage of the country.

"On June 30, 1894, the total number of locomotives was 35,492, an increase during the year of 704. Of these, 9,893 were passenger locomotives and 20,000 freight locomotives. The total number of cars reported was 1,278,078. Of these, 33,018 were in passenger service and 1,205,169 in freight service. These figures do not include cars owned by shippers or private individuals. The increase in the number of cars during the year was 4,132, as against an increase of 58,854 during the previous year. This falling off in the ratio of increase is due to the fact that the railways have during the year destroyed a large number of old, wornout cars. During the year 1,579 locomotives and 30,386 cars were fitted with train brakes, and 1,197 locomotives and 34,186 cars were fitted with automatic couplers. While the gain in the use of both these safety appliances is largely in excess of the increase of equipment during that year, it cannot be considered as showing a marked tendency toward compliance with the law, as 74.80 per cent. of the total equipment is still without train brakes and 72.77 per cent. without automatic couplers. The law requires that all equipment shall be supplied with these safety appliances before January, 1898, while it requires that all cars shall be provided with grab irons or hand holds and drawbars of a standard height by July 1, 1895.

"The total number of railway employees on June 30, 1894, was 779,608, a decrease, as compared with the number on June 30, 1893, of 93,994, or 10.76 per cent. This is a smaller number employed than in any year since 1890. This decrease is, of course, due to the heavy falling off in traffic and the endeavor of the railways to economize. For 1894 the average daily compensation was, for General Officers $9.71, Other Officers $5.75, General Office Clerks $2.34, Station Agents $1,75, Other Station men $1.63, Enginemen $3.61, Firemen $2.03, Conductors $3.04, Other Trainmen $1.89, Machinists $2.21, Carpenters $2.02, Other Shopmen $1.69, Section Foremen $1.71, Other Trackmen $1.18, Switchmen, Flagmen, and Watchmen $1.75, Telegraph Operators and Dis patchers $1.93, and Employees of floating equipment $1.97.

'The total amount of reported railway capital on June 30, 1894, was $10,796,473,813, or $62,951 per mile of line. This is an increase in the amount outstanding during the year of $290,238,403. The amount of capital stock was $4,834,075,659, of which $4,103,584, 166 was common stock, and $730,491,493 was preferred stock. The funded debt was $5,356,583,019, classified as follows: Bonds, $4,593,931,754; Miscellaneous obligations, $456,277,380; Income bonds, $242,403,681, and Equipment trust obligations, $63,970,204. The amount of current liabilities was $605,815,135. The amount of stock paying no dividend was $3,066,150,094, or 63.43 per cent. of the total amount. Of the stock paying dividends, 4.31 per cent. of the total stock paid from 4 to 5 per cent.; 10.12 per cent. paid from 5 to 6 per cent.; 5.12 per cent. paid from 6 to 7 per cent. ; and 5.42 per cent. paid from 7 to 8 per cent. The total amount of dividends was $95,575,976, or an average rate on the dividend paying stock of 5.41 per cent.

"The number of passengers carried was 619,688, 199, an increase

over the previous year of 26,127,587. This increase was occasioned by the World's Fair travel. The average number of passengers in a train was 44, and the average distance traveled by each passenger was 23.06 miles. The number of tons of freight carried was 638,186,553, as against 745,119,482 in 1893, a decrease of 106,932,929 tons. The average number of tons in a train was 179.80, a decrease of 4.17 tons, showing a decrease of economy in the use of freight equipment. The average haul of one ton was 125.88 miles.

"The gross earnings of the railways for the year ending June 30, 1894, were $1,073,361,797, a decrease as compared with the previous year of $147,390,077, or 12.07 per cent. Passenger revenue decreased $16,142,258, or 5.35 per cent., and the revenue from freight traffic decreased $129,562,948, or 15.63 per cent. The amount of operating expenses was $731,414,322, a decrease of $96,506,977, or 11.66 per cent. The fact that nearly the normal amount of dividends was paid notwithstanding the great decrease in income available for them, and that the payment of the amount stated entailed a deficit from the operations of the year of $45,912,044, is suggestive. The revenue derived from the carrying of passengers was $285,349,558, or 26.58 per cent. of gross earnings, and the revenue derived from freight traffic was $699,490,913, or 65.16 per cent. of gross earnings.

"During the year 1,823 railway employees were killed and 23,422 were injured, as compared with 2,727 killed and 31,729 injured in 1893. This marked decrease in casualty is in part due to the decrease in the number of men employed, and the decrease in the volume of business handled. The increased use of automatic appliances on railway equipment also may have rendered railway employment less dangerous, and it may be that the grade of efficiency of employees has been raised. The number of passengers killed was 324, an increase of 25, and the number injured was 3,304, a decrease of 195. Of the total number of fatal casualties to railway employees, 251 were due to coupling and uncoupling cars, 439 to falling from trains and engines, 50 to overhead obstructions, 145 to collisions, 108 to derailments, and the balance to various other causes not easily classified. To show the ratio of casualty, it may be stated that I employee was killed out of every 428 in service, and 1 injured out every 33 employed. The trainmen perform the most dangerous service, I out of every 156 employed having been killed and I out of every 12 having been injured. One passenger was killed out of each 1,912,618 carried, or for each 44, 103,228 miles traveled, and 1 injured out of each 204,248 carried, or for each 4,709,771 miles traveled.

"In concluding the report the statistician renews the recommendations made in previous reports in regard to the desirability of requiring annual reports from express companies; corporations, companies, and persons owning rolling stock used in interstate commerce; corporations, companies, and persons owning depot property, stock yards, and elevators used by interstate carriers, and from carriers by water that compete with railways for traffic. Reference is also made to the question of requiring railways to report freight earnings by commodities. On account of the present depressed financial condition of railways, it has been decided to let this matter rest another year, although there is no question as to the desirability of such reports."

The Chicago Drainage Canal

G. FREDERICK WRIGHT, in the New York Evening Post. Condensed for PUBLIC OPINION

During the last three years Chicago has spent more than ten million dollars in the construction of a canal which is to turn a portion of the water of the Great Lakes along an old glacial outlet into the Mississippi valley, and carry the sewage with it so diluted that it will not be a menace to the health of the Illinois valley through which it is to flow. Ten million more dollars will have to be spent before the canal is in active operation; but the work is prosecuted with such energy that its completion is looked for within the next two years. This is not to be a canal with locks to regulate the flow of water, but an open channel 160 feet wide at the bottom, and 18 feet deep, with plans for deepening it

still more in the future. When first opened it is to discharge 10,000 cubic feet of water per second, which is about five per cent. of the amount now flowing through Niagara River. When the population of the city shall exceed 3,000,000, the quantity of the discharge is to be increased in proportion to the excess. The amount of the original discharge is so great that the engineers estimate that it will raise the low-water mark of the Mississippi one foot at St. Louis.

The accomplishing of such an enormous enterprise is rendered possible by the peculiar physical geography of the Great Lakes. Lakes Michigan and Huron are practically on the same waterlevel, about 580 feet above the sea, while Lake Erie is only eight feet lower. Lake Superior is in an independent basin 20 feet higher. The basin of the lower three of these lakes is so delicately poised that only four feet of rock and two of gravel at Chicago prevent them from spilling over into the Mississippi valley at high water. The rock-bottom of the Niagara, where it leaves Lake Erie, is only 30 feet lower than the rock shelf which forms the barrier west of Chicago. An elevation of 50 feet at Buffalo, or a depression of the same amount at Chicago, would reverse the drainage and make the four upper lakes tributary to the Mississippi. This plan for the disposal of Chicago's sewage has been devised by the city and the State without formal consultation with the other parties whose interests may be affected by it. It seems to be assumed that, since the canal is wholly within the territory of Illinois, it is not necessary to consider the other interests involved. But the cities along the lower lakes are just beginning to be aroused to a consideration of the possible effect of this scheme upon the level of the lakes, and upon the depth of the water in their harbors and in the channels which have been deepened at great expense to facilitate commerce to their ports. The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce has just petitioned the secretary of war to investigate the matter at once.

The total drainage area of the four upper lakes is 250,000 square miles, with a rainfall of about 31 inches. If we reckon that from 35 to 40 per cent. of this is now discharged through Niagara River (which is a liberal estimate), it would make the amount to be about 200,000 cubic feet per second. Major Ruffner estimated that the diversion of 5 per cent. of the water flowing into Lake Erie will probably reduce its level nine inches. The Chicago engineers, basing their calculations on earlier and less perfect data, have been reckoning on a lowering of the level of from three to five inches only. But in view of the shallowness of all the harbors on Lake Erie, and of the fact that the United States has but just completed its work of deepening the navigable channel two feet at a cost of $2,000,000, even the lesser estimate is by no means an insignificant item. Furthermore the engineers in charge freely talk of diverting 15 or 20 per cent. of the water of the great lakes into the Illinois, so as to give such con- . tinuous volume to both that stream and the Mississippi as to make both navigable at all times to the largest steamers. If this canal shall be adopted by the United States as a part of its system of internal navigation, it seems evident that the general government will be called upon to protect the other interests involved from injury. If it is not adopted as a national waterway, it will be an interesting question whether the cost of repairing damages can be assessed upon the city of Chicago, which is to receive the direct benefit from this diversion of a public waterway.

It must be confessed that the boldness of the Chicago engineers, and the promptness with which the city is proceeding to carry out their plans, are scarcely less than sublime. In olden times this project of Chicago might easily have become the occasion of a war between the East and the West, or between Canada and the United States. But there will be ample time to prepare for the remedy of incidental evils before the canal shall become a fixed fact; for so vast are the stores of water in the great lakes that four or five years would elapse before the full effect of such a diversion as is contemplated would be felt upon the lake-level. It certainly is remarkable that the solution of a most difficult problem in disposing of a city's sewage should render financially practicable one of the boldest schemes for the improvement of internal navigation which have ever been entertained by engineers anywhere in the world.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

Political and General

The Kiel, Harlem, and Sault Ste. Marie Canals

St. Louis Globe-Democrat

The new canal connecting the Baltic and the North Sea represents the greatest triumph of German engineering, and one of the greatest achievements in the history of industrial progress. It is 531⁄2 miles in length, beginning at the village of Brunsbuettel on the Elbe River, and running northeast to Rendsburg, and thence east to Holtenau, a suburb of Kiel on the Baltic. The work was begun June 3, 1887, and has been carried through with so much precision that the completion comes at practically the very time which was fixed when the old Kaiser removed the first shovelful of earth. During its progress, 8,600 men were employed upon it in summer and 4,700 in winter, with an equipment of ninety locomotives, 2,473 cars, 66 dredges, 133 lighters, and 55 engines. The total excavation was 98,000,000 cubic yards, which would form a double-track railway embankment 10 feet high and long enough to reach from New York to St. Louis. An estimate of $37,440,000 was originally made for the total cost, and it will probably not be exceeded, which is the first instance of the kind in the list of such enterprises. The entire route of the canal lies in the Prussian province of Holstein, and the land traversed is a flat plain; the average depth is 291⁄2 feet, and width at the water level 213 feet, sufficient to allow the passage of large ocean steamers and men-of-war.

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This canal will remove the necessity for vessels to pass around the Jutland Peninsula, thus saving considerable time and avoiding one of the most dangerous places in European waters. less than 35,000 ships a year make this passage, and it is estimated that at least one-half of them will use this new highway of commerce. The toll for vessels will be 18c. per net register ton, and this is expected to yield a reasonable profit on the investment. Germany will be the largest gainer in the case, of course, not only in a business way, but also in the form of increased defensive resources, as she will hereafter be enabled to assemble a fleet at short notice on the north and west coasts. But the opening of such a passage is in the general interest of commerce, and hence other nations participate in the dedicatory ceremonies. Fall River (Mass.) News

We have already made mention of the almost simultaneous opening of the Kiel and the Harlem ship canals. The former ranks next in importance to the Suez canal, cutting off as it does the dreaded Jutland peninsular, thus rendering more secure as well as greatly shortening the passage from the Baltic to the North Sea. The latter reduces by 12 miles the passage from the Hudson to Long Island Sound, and, what is quite as important, obviates the necessity of impeding the immense traffic in the waters which wash lower New York. The length of the Harlem canal is six miles, its mean depth nine feet, and its width 50 feet, and yet its cost was only about $2,500,000. It is anticipated that in time the depth may be doubled and the width increased to 350 feet, as an increasing commerce may demand such extension.

But these two are not the only canals of importance lately completed. A third is the Sault Ste. Marie canal, which was formally opened on Thursday last. The completion of this work gives to Canadian commerce a continuous waterway nearly 2,500 miles long, from the head of Lake Superior to the Atlantic, so that it will be possible to sail from the province of Ontario to Australia without entering any body of water controlled by a foreign power. The lock, which is one of the chief features of this Canadian canal, is next to the largest in the world, its only superior being that which is now in process of construction on the American side on the present canal leading around the

rapids. This new canal and lock are said to have cost $4,000,000. This new canal can scarcely be regarded as a commercial necessity, judging from the fact that of the commerce hitherto going through the American canal only 31⁄2 per cent. was Canadian. But it gives Canada unobstructed passage through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence, over which no foreign power has any jurisdiction. It is hence another link in the chain of Great Britain's naval possibilities.

Press Dispatch from Berlin, June 23

The officials, especially the high officers of the Police Department, are congratulating themselves that the alleged anarchist plot to spoil the fêtes was baffled. The Berlin and other German newspapers are unceasing in their laudatory references to the fêtes and their praises of those who made them so completely successful. The neglect of the French fleet to illuminate on Friday night, although the Russian vessels were lighted up, led to a great deal of adverse criticism, and Admiral Ménard has consequently been moved to make an explanation of the circumstances to members of the press. The Admiral's explanation in effect is that he did not expect to be called upon to take part in such a demonstration and had no orders from his government to do so. The excuse the Admiral offers has not had the effect to remove the bad impression created by what is generally regarded as a flagrant breach of etiquette. The Hamburger Nachrichten says that despite the assurances of the official press to the contrary, the Kaiser is really much irritated at the offensive reticence of the French officers toward his own and the German officers' invitations. The Frenchmen showed plainly that their participation in the Kiel celebrations was an enforced act, and that France still covets her lost provinces.

London Correspondent New York Times

From every external point of view the Kaiser's opening of the Baltic Canal has been a shining and complete success. For such

a huge and complicated program, there was a remarkable absence of slips and mischances. His speeches were, as a whole, the best that he has made in his life, and, in particular, his eulogy of peace at the Hamburg banquet has produced a deep impression everywhere. Of the physical aspects of the great and probably unparalleled show nothing new can be said. Friends returning to-day, however, have stories to tell of extraordinary popular demonstrations everywhere reserved for the American squadron, its officers, and men, which have not found their way here into print. It is not only that our white vessels were the most beautiful in the whole armada of the world's war shipping, but that the Germans laid themselves out all along the route to mark their special sense of the kinship and affection in which they hold America.

Military Lessons of the Chino-Japanese War HILARY A. HERBERT, Secretary of the Navy, in the North American Review, New York, June. Condensed for PUBLIC OPINION

Japan has leaped, almost at one bound, to a place among the great nations of the earth. The common impression is that while Japan has been making phenomenal progress, China has been stagnating. This is not true in a military sense; if it were, experts would not be everywhere studying, as they now are, the lessons of the recent war in Asia. The value of preparation, of being ready, for war has never been more conclusively shown than by the results of this struggle. The Chinese government seems to have understood the importance of sea power. Preparing itself for whatever emergency might come upon it, possibly for this very conflict, it had made large expenditures in procuring modern ships and modern guns, and upon these and their effectiveness it seemed almost entirely to rely. When the war began China only had a comparatively small number of wellequipped soldiers. For defense against invasion by land it would seem to have reckoned largely on the power of the numbers it could put in the field, though its arsenals were entirely without proper supplies of arms and ammunition. The Japanese were thoroughly prepared. They had arms and munitions in abundance and of the most modern types. The drill and discipline of their troops and of their navy had been carefully per

fected after the best European models. The organization of all their forces seems to have been without a flaw.

war.

From the very first Japan pushed the war with vigor, and her armies and her navy were handled with consummate ability. The issue was practically decided by two battles, one upon the land at Ping Yang on the 15th and 16th of September, and the other upon the water off the Yalu on the 17th of September. It does not follow as a natural conclusion from the results of this struggle, that the Chinese are, as a people, incapable, under proper leadership and proper organization, of waging a great The disparity between the land forces of these two countries in training, equipment, arms, and in other respects was so great as to render it almost impossible to institute any comparison between this war and other wars, yet it should not be forgotten that quite often where the difference in these regards was not so notable, as in several of Napoleon's campaigns, one or two signal victories destroyed the power and struck a terror into the hearts of armies that greatly enfeebled, and sometimes absolutely ended, all further resistance. Within the memory of the present generation occurred a war between two of the greatest nations of the earth that teaches, in as striking a manner as does the struggle we are considering, the value of thorough preparation.

When the Franco-German war began in 1870, it will be remembered that public opinion everywhere, and especially in America, was much divided as to what was to be the outcome. A majority, perhaps, of disinterested lookers on, remembering Wagram, Austerlitz, and Jena, and forgetting the battles fought by the Germans under Frederick the Great, inclined to the opinion that France was to be the victor. But Germany, in 1870, like Japan in 1894, was ready for battle. Her troops were drilled, disciplined, thoroughly equipped, and armed to perfection; her commissariat complete; her means of transportation provided for beforehand; her plans perfected. Von Moltke had organized victory before a gun was fired. The campaign had been wrought out and perfected, even to the minutest detail. The German army moved like clockwork. Wherever there was a strategic point, there were the Germans in superior numbers. In the German lines and in the German plans there seemed to be no weak point. The French armies lost heart, and though they made many gallant fights, it is safe to say that there were not many detachments of the French army who, after Bazaine was shut up in Metz, ever fought as their ancestors had fought under Napoleon I. This does not argue want of courage, for there are no braver people than the French. It shows only, what all history demonstrates, that signal defeats often demoralize armies.

China had in this war a chance, and only one chance, to win, and that lay in her fleet. The ships of China, including armament, were, in offensive and defensive power, superior to those of Japan. Both the Chinese and Japanese fleets were modern. The Japanese navy was, however, like the Japanese people, one organized body. The Chinese navies were several independent organizations, each lacking in drill and discipline. apparent from the beginning that the control of the sea was vital to China, and on the sea was her only chance. The action off Yalu pronounced the doom of all unnecessary woodwork on naval vessels, and all navies are now dispensing with wood as far as possible.

It was

There is nothing, so far as known at this writing, in the recent treaty of peace to prevent China from preparing herself in the near future for another struggle with Japan, just as France has been for twenty years putting herself in readiness for another possible test of strength with Germany. What if this giant nation should rouse herself, and through the influence of some great leader, shake together her loosely-jointed limbs, as Bismarck under William welded the disjointed German states into one? Her strength lies in three hundred and fifty millions of people, singularly patient, wonderfully industrious, and capable in a remarkable degree of enduring hunger and cold. United they could accomplish almost any result. If China begins to gird up her loins, Japan will respond, and indeed whatever may

or may not happen in Asia, it may be confidently predicted that Japan will immensely increase her naval resources. She will not be slow to find in the events of the recent past many reasons for this course.

This Queen of the Asiatic seas the world has been in the habit of looking upon as a small country, but it will now be remembered in every reckoning of the resources of nations that Japan's people, homogeneous and united, are quite equal in numbers to the population of England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, and that the United Kingdom is and has been for years mistress of the seas. Americans must remember, too, that only the waters of one ocean, a wide one, no doubt, but easily traversed by navies, separate their country from Asia. Our policy, it is true, is and has been one of peace—peace always when it can be maintained with honor-peace and good will not only with, but among, all the nations of the earth. We avoid entangling alliances with other nations, but we have constantly exercised our good offices with both China and Japan, as far as we might, to bring them again into peacful relations. Such, it is hoped, will always be our aim, but let us bear in mind that we can never be assured of the ability to command our peace unless we are prepared for emergencies.

The Women's Temperance Convention in London

London Correspondent New York Tribune

The temperance assemblies have been immense and influential gatherings. Two great bodies of workers, the National British Women's Association and the World's Women's Christian Temperance Union, have combined their forces, and at least 25 other organizations have also taken part in the proceedings, which have drawn large and enthusiastic audiences, although the press has given them meager and unsatisfactory notices. Too many side issues were discussed during the opening sessions, but in the most important meeting, attended by 10,000 people, the main purpose of the really wonderful demonstration was clearly disclosed. This purpose was the promotion of moral and social reform through the systematic coöperation of women throughout the world. Practical evidence of this general object was offered in the polyglot petition, estimated to be eight miles long, and to contain over 2,000,000 signatures from fifty countries. It was draped and festooned around the platform and amphitheater, with many great rolls piled up in conspicuous places. After this exhibition there ought to be no doubt that the new woman, whatever else she may be or do, is strong for temperance.

Lady Henry Somerset and Miss Willard were the leaders of this demonstration, and made wholesome, womanly speeches. Perhaps the best evidence of the progress of the temperance cause was the respect with which this unique gathering of earnest women from England, America, and the rest of the world was regarded by one of the largest assemblies ever seen in a London hall. This temperance congress can hardly fail to encourage women throughout Christendom to take a more active interest in social reforms. Lady Henry Somerset predicts that the coming woman will be earnest and true, as well as enfranchized, and that her supreme quality will be motherliness. This is a reassuring forecast, after the alarming portraits of the new woman given by playwrights and novelists in their morbid studies of social problems.

London Correspondent New York Times

The disposition of all except the most earnest social reformers among the English papers to poke mild fun at the shipload of American temperance women delegates and their colossal petition has been ministered to by the sharp difference which has arisen amid the faithful themselves. These dispatches have frequently commented on the eagerness with which a certain section of the English reformers of both sexes have seized on the topic of our southern lynchings to advertise themselves cheaply at the American expense. This was tried on Tuesday at the big annual council of the British Women's Temperance Association, where a Miss Balgarnie made a vehement attack on her American sisters, charging them with a tacit sympathy with lynching, which angered the American visitors so much that they canvassed a

notion of leaving the Temple in a body. A resolution was passed unanimously which amounted to a vote of censure upon our Women's Christian Temperance Association, but subsequently, on the discovery that the Americans resented what had been said, another resolution affirming absolute confidence in the same association was also carried. Miss Balgarnie now writes to the papers to say that this second resolution was sneaked through after she had left the meeting, and does not at all express the feeling of British women on the subject. The incident has greatly marred the happiness of the American delegates' experience in England.

From Rosebery to Salisbury

The Rosebery Government was defeated last Friday in the House of Commons upon a motion to reduce the salary of the Minister of War, by vote of 132 to 125. After consultation the Cabinet resigned on Saturday, and the Queen summoned Lord Salisbury to form a new Cabinet. According to London dispatches published this (Tuesday) morning, Salisbury has not yet definitely accepted the task, but is trying to secure pledges from the Liberal leaders that they will not oppose the passage of the Appropriation bill, after which parliament will be dissolved and a general election held, probably about the middle of next month. Should the Liberal leaders refuse to give the desired pledges, Parliament may be dissolved immediately. It is deemed certain that Salisbury will form a coälition Ministry of Conservatives and LiberalUnionists. The resignation of the late Government was formally announced yesterday in the House of Lords by Rosebery and in the Commons by Harcourt.

The late liberal Ministry, except Lord Rosebery as Prime Minister and the Earl of Kimberley as Foreign Minister, was formed by Mr. Gladstone in August, 1892. March 1, 1894, Mr. Gladstone resigned on account of failing eyesight, and Lord Rosebery became Premier. Lord Salisbury has been Prime Minister twice before, first in 1885, for a few months, and again from 1886 to 1892. He is 65 years old, of medium height, and weighs nearly 300 pounds.

Press Dispatch from London

The Times says of the resignation of the Ministry :

The Ministry must be congratulated upon having rejected the tricky and cowardly advice of some of their supporters to remain in office. The obstacles to the assumption of office by the Unionist coalition have been grossly exaggerated and will be easily overcome. We believe Lord Salisbury will feel it his duty to accept the task of forming a Cabinet, and that the new Ministry will be composed of representatives of both sections of the Unionist party. The dissolution, with a view to which the Unionist Ministry will be formed, cannot long be delayed and it will not be necessary to fill all the places in the Ministry before taking steps for an immediate appeal to the country.

The Morning Post says: "Thus falls the rump of the Gladstone Administration. Where is the revolutionary resolution against the House of Lords?" The Daily News declares that the Liberals will not be caught napping if Lord Salisbury resolves upon a quick dissolution of the House. The officers of the National Liberal Federation have foreseen a possible election this summer. The paper declares that the crisis was not so sudden as it seemed. The Standard says that the decisive voice as to whether the Government should resign or continue in office was that of Sir William Vernon-Harcourt. He declined to attempt to carry on business with the present reduced and uncertain majority. The Chronicle says that Mr. Chamberlain is the real destroyer of the Government, and that he is virtual master of the situation. The Daily Telegraph says that the British people will not concern themselves with the technical and tactical aspects of the greater appeal now to be made to the country, but will pronounce the inevitable sentence on a weak and dangerous Administration for what it has done and left undone.

Press Dispatch from Dublin

The Independent says: "This government was returned to pass Home Rule, which had failed, owing to the action of the House of Lords, and then raised the cry that they would either end or mend the House of Lords, but they attempted neither. It was the meanest of governments and ought to have resigned long ago. Mr. Morley will leave Ireland an example of abso

lute incapacity as a statesman, having effected nothing and leaving the people more discontented than ever."

The Freeman's Journal says: "The Irish supporters of the Ministry are keenly disappointed at the abandonment of power by the Ministers. The Ministry were reduced and destroyed by a band of Irish posing as genuine exponents of National feeling. They may well be wearied of trying to serve the Irish people in the face of the treachery of the Redmondites."

New York Tribune

The resignation of the Rosebery Ministry has been considered inevitable for some time, but at first it was scarcely thought that the Government's defeat on a trifling matter on Friday would bring about their downfall. In fact, it was supposed that the defeat was purely accidental, but now there seems to be reason for believing that a plan was deliberately laid by the Opposition and that the Government were caught napping. Due allowance in reckoning the shortcomings of the fallen Ministry must be made for the circumstances amid which it assumed power. There would have been small cause for wonder had Lord Rosebery, and indeed all other leaders of his party, faltered and declined to undertake the task which Mr. Gladstone had begun. There is no dishonor in not attempting to bend the bow of Ulysses. But Lord Rosebery and his colleagues did not falter nor decline the task.

For one reason or another the Ministry has not done the work expected of it. Above all else it was pledged to give Ireland relief from her burdens and Home Rule. It has not done so. True, it could not, for the House of Lords stood in the way. There are many who will regret that it did not make a more resolute endeavor, and then, if balked irremediably by the House of Lords, stake all on an heroic appeal to the country to remove the obstacle. Such action would have commanded respect, whether it won success or not. But the Ministry did not take such action. In other directions the conduct of the Government was scarcely more effective. In foreign affairs-the very department in which Lord Rosebery was expected most to excel the record is perhaps least satisfactory of all. Seldom has a Ministry taken office with more ambitious promises. Seldom, indeed, has one left office with so meager an array of performances. The party must now meet the electorate with scarcely a single issue worthy of consideration in a national campaign, and probably doomed to defeat.

Under other circumstances and with more loyal colleagues Lord Rosebery may one day regain the Premiership and vindicate the lofty expectations of his admirers. Certainly he deserves a better fate than that which has just befallen him. In this country, at any rate, toward which his attitude has ever been most friendly, he will not lack sympathy and good wishes for the future.

Various Topics

Winnipeg Tribune: With the price of wheat booming, and the price of other produce steadily increasing, the outlook for our farmers is more hopeful than it has been for a number of years.

The Mexican National Exposition, which was to have opened in April, 1896, has been postponed a year in order to afford time for making it a much larger undertaking.

A police census of the Canadian Northwest Territories shows the present population to be 86,851, of whom 13,345 are Indians. The Austrian government intends to spend 29,000,000 florins for new repeating rifles during the next few years.

Victor Hugo: A man is killed in Paris; it is a murder! The throats of fifty thousand people are cut in the East; it is a question!

Minister Denby writes the Department of State, under date of May 14, from Peking that by the fourth article of the Shimonoseki treaty the war indemnity to be paid by China is two hundred million taikwan taels, or 288,800,000 silver Mexican dollars. The taikwan is the Imperial Treasury tael.