Indianapolis Journal, Volume 48, Number 336, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 December 1898 — Page 4

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THE DAILY JOURNAL FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1808. Washington Office—lso3 Pennsylvania Avenue Telephone ('alia. Business Office 238 | Editorial Rooms £6 , TKKJIS OF SI BSCRIPTIOM. DAILY BY MAIL. Daily only, one month 1 .70 Daily only, three months 2 00 Daily only, one year ?.00 Daily. Including Sunday, or.e year 10.00 Bunday only, one year 2.00 WHEN FURNISHED BY AGENTS. Daily, per week, by carrier 17 cts Sunday, single copy 5 cts Daily and Sunday, per week, by carrier.... 20 cts WEEKLY. Per year SI.OO Retinoid Rate* to Club*. Subscribe with any of our numerous agents or aend subscriptions to the JOURNAL NEWSPAPER COMPANY, Indianapolis, Ind. Persons sending the Journal through the malls in the United States should put on an eight-page paper a ONE-CENT postage stamp; on a twelve r sixteen-page paper a TWO-CENT postage stamp. Foreign postage is usually double these rates. All communications Intended for publication In this paper must. In order to receive attention, be accompanied by the name and address of the writer. THE I INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL Can be found at the following places: NEW YORK—Astor House. CHICAGO—PaImer House. P. O. News Cos.. 217 Dearborn street. Great Northern Hotel and Grand Pacific Hotel. CINCINNATI—J. R. Hawley & Cos., 154 Vine street. _ LOUISVILLE—C. T. Deering. northwest corner of Third and Jefferson streets, and Louisville , Book Cos.. 236 Fourth avenue. 6T. LOUlS—Union News Company, Union Depot. Washington, and. tv-Riggs House, Ebbitt 'House and Willard’s Hotel. T= - -S=J3 The first step toward better city government is the enactment of a primary election law. Could not the good city government peo. pie tell us how to Interest the “best citizens” in local government? Now that the affair is closed, the representatives of the powers In Europe have hastened to congratulate the President on the outcome. ' ■■■ i— ■ T*vr new Central American Republlo scat survived Its christening. As founders of republics the Latin races are not conspicuously successful. If Aguinaldo wants a big ransom for the Teleaso of the friars in his hands he had better open negotiations with Romo. Uncle Sum is not In that sort of business. From a military point of view Marshal Blanco’s career In Cuba was not more successful than General Weyler’s, and he seems to have had even fewer friends at his leavetaking. If the wise persons who are fighting the proposed treaty would just stop the flow of denunciation and tell us what they would do, we might be converted—and then we might not. The latest Indications are that the opposition senators from the new States will vote for the ratification of the treaty with Spain. Senator Teller has notified the President of his purpose to do so. The race troubles in North Carolina will be Investigated at the suggestion of Populist senators. Now that the matter has been colored iri£h in office in North Carolina than there were ten years ago. Because the United States drove the Spaniards out of Cuba, some of the Cuban leaders assume that we are bound to furnish the insurgents no end of money to start in life. This Is on the theory that one good turn deserves another.

Mr. Edward Atkinson admits that it is probable the revenues of the Dingley law would be sufficient to meet the expenditures of the government before the war. Now that we are to have the Philippines, Mr. Atkinson can see no end to expenditure. An exchange finds the greatest danger in the Philippine problem in the possibility that the President may yield to the entreaties of place seekers and send incompetent men to rule the islands. When the alarming death rate is taken into consideration, even the danger referred to may disappear. General Garcia's statements regarding the necessity of a loan to pay off the Cuban army and aid in the rehabilitation of the Island 3eem to be made in good faith and should receive careful consideration. The customs revenues of the island would be adequate security ft r a ccnj derable amount. The proposition of the Chinese government to negotiate a treaty for the extradition of Chinese criminals with a special view to the extradition and punishment ••highbinders,” seems open to serious objections. The fundamental one is that Chinese government and laws are so different from ours that no extradition treaty could be made reciprocal. The "highbinders” may bo criminals under Chinese law, but unless a member of the organization has committed a crime known to our laws this government could not justly surrender him for punishment ia China. Chinamen in the United States are by no means popular, but it would not do to give the Chinese government power to forcibly drag them out of the country and to China to be punished for an alleged crime against the laws of China. After all is said regarding forms of city charters and government the fact remains that the success of municipal reform depends mainly on the character of the men who administer the government and the spirit which they bring to the work. The worst feature of municipal government in cities is lack of public spirit and an inadequate sense of civic duty. In European cities men of first rate business talent and executive ability give their time and labors to the public, some of them without any pay whatever, and all finding a large part of their compensation in the honor. Any system that makes municipal offices political prizes, attainable only through ward politics, must result in largely depriving the offices of the honor that should attach to them and in excluding competent business men from the list of eligibles. No doubt municipal government in American cities can be greatly improved, but it is vary doubtful if. under universal suffrage, it can ever be brought up to the European standard. If Senator-elect Joss can connect his name with a primary election law that will enable the members of parties at large to have some voice In the selection of delegates and he will have won an enviable position among practical and useful reformers. ComiVaratlvely few men go to tha party primaries at the present time because they feel that it is a waste of time. When it shall be made clear that there is as opportunly to select favorite* from a

printed list or vote direct for the aspirants they prefer, two-thirds as many men as vote on election day will vote at the primary. Under the present method it is possible to organize gangs of men outsido of the wards in which they reside and use them to defeat the will of the party men who live in the wards. A primary election law that will do no more than secure to the members of the party in precincts a fair and orderly method of selecting delegates or making nominations is of first importance in securing better results in the selection of officers. It will do away with the professional delegatee, give the voters an equal chance and avoid the friction which culminates in bolts. It would also retire to private life the gangs of heelers In both parties that fasten upon candidates as leeches and defraud all who have to do with them. PATERNALISM IN GOVERNMENT. The Public Ownership Review, published in Los Angeles, Cal., has announced a purpose to organize throughout the country “Public Ownership Political Unions,’’ for the purpose of carrying out a scheme of paternalism in government quite as wild as that set forth by Bellamy in his "Looking Backward.” The “political programme” which the Review announces for this organization, which is called the Democratic Union party, has for its leading “the public ownership, not of the utilities alone, hut of all monopolies, inclusive of land and trusts.” Having stated the leading purpose of this new party, the organ goes on to specify as follows: ' The transition to public ownership should be facilitated by laws promoting the consolidation of industries and by levying a special tax on these monopolies to prevent tho accumulation of monopoly values in owner’s hands. The sums thus raised should be applied to the purchase of the monopolies by the public, at unwatered and nonspeculative values. To place land within the reach of all desiring to use it, a tax should be laid upon all land above a fixed value. The community should then purchase land at its real (not speculative) valuation and lease it on long terms to cultivators, advancing assistance at a low rate of interest to those without funds to begin agriculture. To bring immediate relief to the people from the burdens of unequal taxation, the inheritance tax should be made general and greatly increased, and an income tax re-enacted. The issue of money should lie made a direct function of government, in accordance with the principle of public ownership. The state should conduct the Insurance and the liquor businesses. There should be a legal eight-hour day and minimum wage; and enactments forbidding employers to fill the niace of strikers by imported laborers. Tne school age should be raised by law to sixteen years, that a thorough technical education may be given, to keep the young out of industrial competition with adults, thereby taking up the unemployed and to lay solid national foundations of moral and physical health. Pending the adoption of the foregoing measures productive public work should be provided for the unemployed. The monarchical policy of expansion, “imperialism,” and a large standing army and navy should be squarely met with unconditional repudiation. Nothing more absurd could be devised than most of this platform. It has but two redeeming features in it—those relating to education and an eight-hour law as far as practicable. The rest is a jumble of the views of Socialists and Communists which have been discarded by the more recent advocates of socialism, who wait for evolutionary methods. The first thing which would be necessary in order to carry these crazy schemes into effect would be the overthrow of national and state constitutions. The programme is not a declaration of war upon corporate greed and monopoly, but a scheme to rob the vast number of people who have farms and property of any kind. It is a scheme of confiscation and pillage. The purpose of the leaders, as set forth by the Review in the following quotation, is interesting: The Democratic Union party contains many who are in it solely as a stepping stone to the ultimate reform of public ownership, and not at all for free silver. The party leaders are fully conscious of the situation and count on holding this element by throwing out. such sops as public ownership of railroads, etc. By these inducements they will try to hold the radical public ownership element to their prime doctrine —sliver. Now, to stand the ghost of a show of success in 1900 they must retain this public ownership vote, because it is so large a portion of their party. Hence these radicals can demand wliat they will of the Democrats and be certain to receive it on condition that they are an organized body prepared to withdraw from the Democratic party if their request is refused. Tho visionaries who advocate such wild schemes assume that the thing they call the public or government possesses the perfection of wisdom. And yet those who have studied the subject know that government ns now constituted has the smallest capacity to manage affairs of any kind. A corporation could run the postofiloe better than it is done by the government. Many of those who advocate the ownership of the natural utilities by cities seem to forget that tho most incompetent, most expensive and most unsatisfactory agency in tho country is municipal government. This is due to the fact that the number of people in cities who desire intelligent and businesslike government are in the minority. The seizing of tho public utilities by municipal government should wait until it has been ascertained that a decided majority of the voters can bo depended upon, year after year, to put the management of city affairs into the hands of capable and honest men.

AX UNNECESSARY INFLICTION. There is no law to prevent Hannis Taylor, late American minister to Spain, from exploiting his opinions in a magazine if the publishers labor under the delusion that he is a statesman—none whatever. But there is no reason why press associations should conspire with the magazine in an effort to make the American people believe that Mr. Hannis Taylor is as much of a wise man and a statesman as ho seems to think he Is. But for the magazines or a book or two he has written no one would know who Hannis Taylor is. The fact that in the congressional district in Alabama in which he resides he was refused a nomination to Congress, would indicate that the people of the Mobile district are not taking Mr. Taylor at his own valuation.' In the article in question the ex-minister remarks that since the formation of our government "Spain has been a good friend to the United States.” That is so remarkable a statement as to cause one to suspect that the writer enjoys a retainer. The truth is that Spain has always given the United States more or less trouble, which is not the best evidence of real friendship. Tho ex-minister's accusation is that of Sagusta, namely, that the United States has used its power to nuke exorbitant demands upon a defenseless nation. Indeed, Mr. Hannis Taylor stigmatizes the taking of the Spanish possessions as "a vust ravishment.” He declares that Porto Rico is worth more than tho $105,000,000 the war has cost—a statement which Indicates that the ex-min-ister has lost sight of the reason given by the United States for going to war with Spain. Mr. Taylor's article was written before the acceptance of the treaty, possibly with the expectation that it would get to the American people before an agreement had been reached at Paris. The general feeling is that tho United States will pay too much for the Philippines rather than too little—that as a matter of fact they are worth nothing and never would be so long as Spain should rule

THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL,?FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1898.

them by officers whose vocation has been to rob and to oppress the natives. ExMinister Taylor should demand a good price for the odium which the authorship of such an article would bring to him if any considerable number of the American peojde should have their attention called to him. The egotistic bombast of Hannis Tayloi should be confined to the magazines if publication is necessary, and not telegraphed over the country as the utterance of a man of consequence, because he is not, even when lie defames his own government. , THE HUMANITARIAN ASPECT OF THE WAR. During the progress of the peace negotiation at Paris some of our carping European critics have made bitter and sarcastic allusion to the claim that the late war with Spain was a war for humanity. Because as victors we demanded certain territorial concessions in lieu of a cash war indemnity we have been called “the greedy republic across the Atlantic” and have been charged with hypocrisy in pretending that we were actuated in any degree whatever by humanitarian motives. The leading paper of Paris says: “The Americans, having started out to liberate Cuba, have ended with pocketing what remained of Spain’s colonies.” Notwithstanding this talk, of which there has been a great deal, the fact remains that our principal motive in declaring war against Spain was one of humahity, and the net results of the war about to be embodied in a treaty of peace are conspicuously so. The Paris paper above quoted says, “Having started out to liberate Cuba,” etc. Well, if we started out to liberate Cuba we have done it. That In itself would be sufficient justification of the war. To have ended the Spanish rule in Cuba of four centuries, which British papers characterized as a running sore beneath our very eyes, and to have wiped out the “abhorrent conditions” which the resolution of Congress declared to be "a disgrace to civilization,” is in itself a triumph for humanity sufficient to have justified the war. There is reason to believe that in a few years Cuba will become a prosperous and self-governing country, either as an independent nation or as a part of the United States, and that peace, happiness and progress will take the place of the unspeakable conditions maintained there by Spain. That certainly is a gain for humanity, and it was accomplished in a humane way. From the beginning of the war we extended relief to the suffering and starving Cubans and are still doing so. We cared for our prisoners of war far better than they had ever been cared for by Spain. We sent more than 25,000 Spanish troops back to their homes in Spain at our own expense, feeding them on the way. We rescued Admiral Cervera and many of his officers and men from drowning, and clothed, fed and nursed them in a tjray that excited their astonishment and gra-titude. Since the war we have made Santiago a cleaner, healthier and better governed city than it ever was before, and will soon do the same for Havana, thereby breaking up a breeding place for yellow fever which Spain has maintained for generations. We will soon establish a tariff that will help the to get on their feet and make the island a land of plenty instead of, pauperism. For an established church we will give it free religion, for universal ignorance free schools, for a depreciated currency sound money, for corruption and venality in high places good government and honest administration. All this is a gain for humanity. Turning to other points covered by the treaty, all that has been said regarding Cuba applies to Porto Rico, with tho added benefit that the latter island becomes at once an undisputed possession of the United States. From a misgoverned and impoverished colony of the least progressive nation in Europe, Porto Rico becomes a colony of the freest and most progressive nation on earth and a participant in all the blessings of its government. Whatever may become of Cuba after the United States -withdraws its protection and assistance, Porto Rico is safe for all time. Our pledge to establish and maintain stable government in Porto Rico is even more obligatory than our pledge regarding Cuba, for Porto Rico is a member of the family. Her status is secure and her future career is certain to be one of freedom and jself-government, of progress and prosperity, as against Spanish tyranny, sloth, corruption and misrule. That is a very distinct gain for humanity. The future of the Philippines is not as easily foretold, but it cannot fail to be an improvement over the past. The worst that can befall the Philippines cannot be half as bad as to have continued under Spanish rule. The chances are that the United States will so dispose of the Philippines, either by holding the islands, establishing a protectorate or transferring them to other powers, as to advance their prosperity and civilization, but whatever may happen to them cannot be as bad for the cause of humanity as for them to have remained in the state of chronic degradation established and maintained by Spain. Thus whatever the final outcome of the Philippines question may be it is sure to be a gain for humanity.

Another point embraced in the treaty is the release by Spain of all military and political prisoners for offenses committed in Cuba and the Philippines, including those in prison and those in exile or in Spanish penal colonies. The victims of Spanish tyranny who will be liberated under this clause will not question that the war was a humane one. Still another point, of no political consequence but of some importance from a humanitarian point of view r , is the agreement by Spain, hitherto stubbornly refused, that religious freedom shall be established in the Carolines and the rights of American missionaries be recognized. The extension of religious freedom is always a gain for humanly. The humanitarian aspects of the war above enumerated do not Include all of them, but they are sufficient to show that the sneers of our European critics are entirely misplaced. The truth is no other war of modern times has shown as much of the humanitarian spirit in the motives of its undertaking, the manner of its prosecuting and its net results as does our war with Spain. It can be repeated with emphasis that there has been and will be little difficulty in getting a municipal charter that will make clean and economical city government possible. Indianapolis has such a charter. Its provisions, for the most part, are clear and positive. Those who are not its authors see a few' flaws in it, but they do not touch the matter of clean and businesslike management of the affairs of the city. Nevertheless, there are few people in Indianapolis who, after informing themselves of the general features of the present administration, w'ouid affirm, as witnesses, that it is in accord with the provisions of the charter. They would find that the provision of the charter regarding the selection of all employes, skilled or otherwise, Is utterly ig-

nored. It has never been denied that a laborer was discharged by tho controller for not agreeing to vote the Taggart county ticket at the late election. Such an act is a palpable violation of the charter. Another provision of the charter specially sets forth the steps to be taken to purchase lands for city purposes. In the purchase of the lands for Riverside park every requirement of that portion of the charter was as completely ignored as if they were not a part of it. Another section declares that before any money can be expended for any purpose an appropriation must be made out of moneys in the treasury by the City Council. In one or two instances the Council.has been requested to appropriate money to pay for serviice which neither the charter nor the Council authorized the mayor to make. In view of such instances as these, the practical problem seerrus not to be so much one of charters as one of obeying its provisions by executive and other officers. Any man who can devise a plan which will cause mayors and other executive officers to live up to the provisions of a charter will be not only a wise man but a public benefactor. Readers of the Journal must have beeti interested in the communication in yesterday’s issue from Henry B. Blackwell, of Dorchester, Mass., regarding territorial expansion. Though not a senator nor claiming to be a statesman Mr. Blackwell occupies a point of view in Massachusetts high enough to look over the Allegheny and the Rocky mountains to the world-wide interests beyond. He has no fear that a constitution which expanded under the acquisition of the Louisiana territory, Texas. California, Alaska, etc., and which has grown stronger by the increase from thirteen to forty-five States will break under the strain of Hawaii or the Philippines. The truth is, the Constitution is stronger and more elastic now than it was at the beginning of the century. A curious feature of Mr. Blackwell’s communication was the extract from a speech delivered in Congress by Hon. Josiah Quincy in 1811. Mr. Blackwell errs when he says the speech was against the bill to purchase and annex tho Louisiana territory. That was consummated by treaty which was ratified by Napoleon in May, 1803, and by the United States Senate in October, 1803. Mr. Quincy’s speech in which he predicted such direful results from expansion was delivered in January, 1811, against the admission of Louisiana as a State. This, however, is merely a point of historical accuracy and does not affect the forco of the argument that early in the century one of Massachusetts’s leading statesmen saw the same danger in the admission of that Senator Hoar now does in the acquisition of the Philippines. If Josiah Quincy was premature in despairing of the Republic in 1811, we think some Massachusetts statesmen of to-day are equally so. William Waldorf Actor's donation of $25,000 towards founding a Gordon memorial college in the Sudan is another shrewd move in his scheme for obtaining a titlo of nobility from the British government. “Lord Waldorf” would sound very well and be a romantic reminder of the little town in Germany from which the American Astors originally came.

BUBBLES IN THE AIR. Irishly Speaking. “She is rather wan-faced, think you not?” “Bedad, she is two-faced.” The Only Good One. “Where we old fellows used to say 'honest Injun,’ the modern kid says ‘on the dead.’ ” “Weil, you know, the only good Injun is the dead Injun.” Our Daily Slang. She—l’ve just got to have a heavier coat for this weather. He—Ah! Because the -weather is freezing you think I ought to thaw. Whereat she laughed so ripplingly and with such apparently appreciative spontaneity that he gave her $lO more than she expected. Positively Insulting. “I know the pumpkin pie was rather thin as to liliing,” said the landlady, almost crying, “but I don’t think he had any right to say what he did.” “What did he say?” asked the second table boarder. “He asked me if I didn’t think that the piecrust would bo Improved if It had another coat of paint.” THE SENATORS HIP. The poll of Indiana shows that Taylor leads in the senatorial fight, with Beveridge a close second. The fight lays between these two men. May they win in the same order.—Richmond Item. With Governor Mount backing Beveridge, Senator Fairbanks supporting Steele and General Harrison preferring Taylor—all of which is said to be true—the senatorial contest will arouse more interest on account of tho trainers than the principals themselves. —Terre Haute Tribune. Where is there a man in Indiana who has given more cheerfully of his means, his time and his talents to the success of the Republican party than has Albert J. Beveridge? And where is there a man who has added more strength to the cause he has advocated?—Connersville Times. Hon.Nf. Frank Hanly is the choice of the people for senator because he is capable, as shown by his excellent record in Congress, because he is honest, because he is alive to the demands of the country, because he is in full sympathy with the President in his financial and expansion policy, and because ho will be a credit to the State.—Lafayette Call. The Hon. George W. Steele has not yet fully decided whether or not he will be a candidate for senator. The major should either shoot or give up the gun and give the gentlemen who are actually in the running a chance. Os course, the major has no doubt of his ability to win the prize if he goes after it in earnest. vVe haven’t even the shadow of a doubt about it unless some son of a gun should soap the track.—Kokomo News. The mere fact that Mr. Beveridge happens to be a resident of the city of Indianapolis should not militate against his candiuacy. A United States senator is not supposed to represent the Immediate locality in which he lives to the exclusion of the rest of the State. Perhaps in order to remove the objection on account of residence Mr. Beveridge had better pack his household effects and move to Kokomo. Our people would give him a royal welcome.—Kokomo News. It is a little early In the season to prefer damaging charges against the senatorial candidates, and J. Frank Hanly is the first man to have his private closet invaded and skeleton yanked out for the inspection of the State. He is accused of squeezing $35 per week from the state committee for his work .on the stump in 189t>. To spring this little pleasantry so early in the game is a tacit compliment to Mr. Hanly. It shows that he Is regarded by his opponents as a formidable man, one who must he checked if possible on the go before his little boom has had a thorough chance to develop itself.—Anderson Bulletin. The "Qaren LH” Claim* of the Fntnre> Detroit Tribune. Someone seems to have given Queen Lil the tip that the business of claimant is not altogether without its rich rewards in this country. She has heard that no lapse of time and no number of defeats ever weakens the value of any pecuniary claims that may be brought before Congress. The ex-Queen want* the United States to. pay her an annuity of tens of thousands of dollars, and also to turn over to her the crown lands of the Sandwich Islands, said to be worth $5,0Cm.).000. However presumptuous this may appear at first blush, it is not so mad a scheme after ail when we consider tho marvelous influences that may be brought to boor upon our Congress, provided one employs tire right kind of an “attorney.”

Os course Lil will fall signally on the first attempt to convince Congress that she ought to have the money and the lands. But she will be advised to keep it up Congress after Congress, and the Mrs. Dominla claims will doubtless figure as largely In the congressional records of the next twenty years as the McGarrahan claim has figured In the past. If the crown lands belong to Mrs. Dominis, it is a matter of law. If the lands are held adversely to her by private persons, it seems as if the courts of Hawaii ought to be the proper place for her to go for justice, and if they are claimed and held Vy the United States, our Court of Claims is the proper tribunal before which to bring her suit. Congress ought not even to entertain her plea for a moment. If she has a claim against the United States on account of promises of an annuity in consideration of her peaceful abdication. Congress may properly consider the claim; but the ownership of lands is a matter of fact and cf law. which the courts are abundantly able to handle. EXPANSION SENTIMENT. Tlie Shape It Takes in the Popular Mind and the Reasons for It. Benjamin Kidd, in Atlantic Monthly. I have recently been traveling over a large part of the United States, particularly In the "West. I have been as far West as the Pacific coast, passing over two main lines of communication, out one way and back another, stopping at various places and living among the people a good deal. On the subject of expansion I talked with the people generally. It was impossible to avoid the subject. I was struck by two great bodies of opinion, as I might call them, on the question of expansion. One of these I might describe as being a sort of unreasoning body of opinion; that is to say, it has not been reasoned out. It takes the shape in the popular mind of a pronounced and even intense feeling that in this matter of expansion the duty of the United States is clear. Ask the farmers and business men in the West why the course which they propose is the duty of America. They will give no direct or logical reason, as far as I could find out. But they are, nevertheless, perfectly decided about one thing, and that is “that this thing has got to be done." You ask, “What thing?” and they reply, “Why, that America should keep a stiff upper lip to the world; should hold that which she has not sought, but which has come to her; should keep what she has got.” She must, in short, in a favorite phrase, be “true to her own destiny.” The meaning of Washington’s farewell address, delivered when the United States contained only about six million people, surrounded on every side by hostile powers and hostile natural conditions, appears to bo lost when the six million have grown to seventy million and are already reckoning the day when they will be two hundred million. The people whom Henry Adams described as living at the beginning of tho nineteenth century “in an isolation like that of the Jutes and Angles of the fifth century,” have tamed a continent, have covered it with a vast network of tho most magnificent railroads in tho world, have grown to be tho largest and most homogeneous nation on the face of the earth, with a great world-movement behind it, and certainly a great world-part before it. It is because the man in tho Western States to-day, in a dim, instinctive way, realizes these things, because ho has himself been in the midst of this development, and lias even been, a factor in it, that lie seems to be willing to take the risks which more theoretical minds hesitate at. That was the answer which I gave myself. To look closer at the matter is only to have the importance of it brought home with increased torce. A leading factor in the future history of the world is that it is the probable destiny of the United States, at no distant time, to become the leading section of the English-speaking world; nay, not only that, but to become the leading world-power of the next century. Now, if the United States Is going to be a great world-power in the next century, it would seem to be almost impossdble to conceive that it will be able to escape the effect of its connection with what are really world-<principles, and these world-principles will involve very important relationships to the world in the future. The first matter with which it will undoubtedly be concerned is the trade of the world.

Within a time which many Os us will live to see the American continent will be settled up; it is very nearly settled up already, in the agricultural sense. The next era of expansion, which we are almost in the midst of, is the great era of industrial expansion, manufacturing expansion—an era of expansion which will undoubtedly bring the United States into very important relations with the trade of the world. The people of the United States will be driven to seek the widest possible outside market for their industrial productions; they must be able to buy raw material in outside markets, and they will have behind them, as they will come to realize more and more clearly, a great history, for they will be the leading representatives of definite principles in the development of the world. Now, let us see what this trade means. It would seem that there can be little doubt that the trade of the world in the future will be largely a trade with the tropics. The tropics are naturally the most richly endowed portion of the world. Under proper conditions of administration the possibilities of production in the tropics are immensely greater than the possibilities of production in the temperate regions. Even with the extremely unfavorable conditions which at present prevail in the tropics our civilization already rests to a large extent on its trade with the tropics. If we exclude consideration of trade within the English-speaking regions the total trade of the. United States with the tropics in 1895 was $3-k1.000,0C0, as against $.=>33,000,000 with the remainder of the world. This is a very striking and pregnant fact when we consider existing conditions. It must always be kept in view, too. that no nation can remain permanently Indifferent to the condition of a country with which it has large and vital trade relations. As to the logic of the situation, that is a matter solely for the American people. Yet it is one of the deepest truths of philosophy that the meaning of living things cannot be put into logical formulas. The spirit behind the Constitution of the United States is probably one of the most vital and healthy things in the world; and yet, under the Constitution itself, there are already the most illogical results. One of the fundamental principles of government in the United States is the assumption of the right of every citizen to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The negro 1s a citizen of the United States, and yet. in some States of the Union, he 1s forbidden to marry a citizen of a different color. The Indian is a ward of the United States and not a citizen, and the Chinaman is forbidden a vote. All this is illogical. But it is not, therefore, wrong; and the fact remains that the spirit behind the American Constitution is probably one of the healthiest forces in the world. The intense feeling of the Western man that there is a meaning and a reason behind a policy of expansion which cannot be put into formulas—which is not even necessary to put into formulas—hasi more in it than appears on the surface; it may be nearer to the real meaning of things than the most thoroughly reasoned argument. We have not had a more philosophical historian in England than Professor Seeley, certainly none who has understood better the meaning of the principles behind the expansion of the English-speaking races. It was he. who, writing about such principles, delivered himself of this remarkable saying: “In a truly living institution the instinct of development is wiser than the utterances of the wisest individual man.” That is the Western man’s conclusion put into the philosophy of the historian. Reform of Local Government. Brookville (Ind.) American. He will he a bold man who sets up a lobby in the Indiana Legislature against such bills as those that may emanate from the commission charged with the duty of suggesting reforms in county and township government in this State. The movement is no ipartisan, is indorsed by the best Journals and most prominent business ar.d professional men of the State, and promises great benefit to the people of Indiana. If the new Legislature perfects and passes a bill or bills on the lints marked out by the executive committee and passes no other measures, except such as are merely routine, it will do the State a great service and will receive the plaudits of the people. There will then he an end of hotch-potch arul irresponsible local government in Indiana. There will then he a divorcement of tho legislative. executive and judicial branches in our local government on the clear lines that mark the divisions in the federal and state governments. The new system will thus harmonize with both the state and national government. Attica ledger. Some new legislation is premised in regard to the township trustees, some of the opponents of those offices being desirous of having the jobs distributed among the commissioners, county superintendents and others. #

PROBLEM OF THE CITIES MUKICTPAL LEAGUE TALKED OF MODEL CHARTERS YESTERDAY. ♦ ■ Discussed \\ hat In Rent for City Goteminent—'The Delegates Enter* tained Last .Night. The second day’s conference of the Na/tional Municipal League, at the Commercial Club, yesterday, was devoted to discussion of various phases of good city government, a great deal of time being given to the municipal programme, or model charter, submitted by tho committee tho day before. The discussion of the day showed that individual members have some ideas at variance with the general scheme laid down in the proposed charter. Horace E. Deming, of New York, chairman of the committee, arose to reply to such criticisms as were offered. Tho adverse ideas were rather in the nature of friendly suggestions than rabid controversies and lent considerable spirit to the debate, especially in tne afternoon. The principal address of the forenoon was made by Mr. Deming, whose topic was: “The Municipal Problem in the United States.” During tho course of his talk Mr. Deming said: “Municipal government in the United States is, on the whole, less satisfactory than our state or national government. It has been confidently claimed by many that the conspicuous failure of democracy as a form of government under the exacting conditions of our modern industrial civilization is demonstrated by the American city. In several cities there have been elaborate investigations and reports by specially appointed state commissions upon the subject of municipal government, and the evils have been pictured again and again. Literally thousands upon thousands of statutes, and not a few constitutional amendments, have been enacted in the search for remedies. Still the evil remains with us. Is, then, the search for a remedy hopeless? Does the democratic-republican form of government make impossible the honest, efficient, economical, progressive conduct of municipal affairs? In Great Britain and on tne continent of Europe, under the widely varying governmental systems of England, Prance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgitmi, the cities are the most conspicuous examples of efficiency, economy and progress in the field of government. In each of those cities, also, the city, as a scheme of government for the determination of matters of local policy and the administration of local concerns, is far more democratic, not only in its conception, but in actual practice, than tho general government itself. The failure of municipal government in our own country, therefore, can hardly be attributed to the democratic character of our institutions. The two principal causes of the failure thus far in the United States to secure efficient, economical, progressive municipal government are: "1. The municipality Is not granted sufficient power to determine for itself all matters of local public policy and to settle for itself the details of its scheme of internal local administration. “2. The municipiaity, as a subordinate administrative agent of the state, is placed partly cr wholly under the supervision and control, not of any state administrative department. but of the State Legislature. “The cities have been governed from without, not from within; such governmental powers as they may have are not exercised by methods and agencies selected by their own citizens, but according to the theories of outsiders. They have not been self-gov-erning communities free to apply their own remedies to their own ills and taught by *-x----perienco to work out an administration adapted to their local neds. LEGISLATIVE DESPOTISM.

“This process has been going on with accelerating speed for more than half a century and is still going on before our eyes today. Both the process itself and the results of it may be characterized as an attempt by tho State Legislature to conduct tho municipal government. The legal position of the city in relation to the Legislature has been so helpless, its dependence upon the Legislature so absolute, and the peed of frequent application to the Legislature as the real source of power has been so continuously urgent that not only does local self-govern-ment, either in the sense of the direct management of Its local affairs by the cities’ own citizens without outside interference, cr in the sense of the administration of Us local scheme of government, scarcely exist in the United States to-day, but there is very little genuine local public spirit. This constant resort to and interference by the Legislature has grown to seem perfectly natural, and, as it were, inevitable in the conduct of municipal government. Except, however, that our tenses have been dulled by long use of legislative usurpation, the invasion of our liberties would soon cease. The remedy is plain. The city must cease to be the abject slave of legislative despotism. It must be made sufficient for itself. It must govern itself.” Mr. Deming laid down these fundamental propositions: “1. The municipal corporation should be invested with the governmental powers requisite to determine all questions of local public policy. There should be no excuse, and, if possible, no opportunity to apply to the Legislature.for additional powers, and, on the other hand, the Legislature should have no excuses, and, if possible, no opportunity to intermeddle with the local government by granting or taking away any power to enable the city to decide for itself any question of local public policy. “2. The citizens of the municipality, under general laws, should be free to make and amend their own form of muncipal government, provided it is based upon demo-cratic-republican principles, and to determine their own methods of administration of the local governmental powers, according to their own ideas as to what will best satisfy their local needs. “3. In so far as the municipal corporation is made the agent of the state to enforce and administer general laws within the corporate limits, it should be under the supervision of and responsible to central state administrative departments, and not subject to the sport of special legislation. “A muncipality thus constituted is not an imperium in imperio, but a free, self-gov-erning community, subject to state administrative supervision as to all matters of general state policy to be enforced throughout the state. Legislative interference is elimifiafed. Home rule is not only possible, but compulsory. "To accomplish these results in their completeness and to guarantee their permanence a constitutional amendment is very much to be desired. In every State the friends of efficient, economical, progressive municipal government should organize and continue a vigorous and unwearying campaign until a constitutional amendment embodying these fundamental principles shall have been adopted. But without any constitutional amendment many Important results can be effected, and the efforts to accomplish them will not only aid the ultimate adoption of the amendment, but will help to create an alert and intelligent public opinion, which is a surer safeguard of popular liberties than any written constitution. There is one needed grant of power to cities, however, that can only be made through a constitutional amendment. Our present nomination and election methods in city, State and Nation are the subject of just criticism. They have shown themselves inadequate to the requirements of a democratic republic under the complex conditions of modern industrial civilization. The characteristics of that civilization, both for good and ill, are most marked in our cities, and naturally in our largest cities most of all. Many thoughtful men are aa firmly convinced that the present electoral methods are as outgrown and have proved to be as 111-suited to existing needs as the device of an electoral college for the choice of a President; some are strong advocates of minority or proportional representation; many others, while not convinced that the remedies for the evils in our electoral methods have yet been found, are no less convinced of the existence of the evils, and all can agree that the last word has not been said ori the proper solution of the grave questions Involved in determining the proper methods of nomination and election to public otfico in a democratic republic. FINDING A REMEDY. “That some remedy will be found is certain. To think otherwise would be to despair of the Republic. But to discover and apply remedies, to demonstrate by actual experience which is the better or the best remedy, there must be freedom to act. The highest public good requires that the Constitution should guarantee to each city, subject alone to the restriction that a demo-cratic-republican form of government be preserved, complete freedom to control the methods of the exercise of municipal suffrage in purely municipal elections. If the faith of our fathers still lives in us. if we believe in the under ying principles of demo-cratic-republican government, we shall never cease our efforts till some practicable ami adequate method for the complete application ot' those principles finds fair opportunity In the conduct of municipal government.” A general discussion followed. Mr. Dealing's purer met with general indorsement. Among those who spoke in favor of It was

E. M. Thrasher, of Dayton, 0., who, with several members of a commission on municipal code that la preparing legislation for municipal reform, is attending the conference. Tho experience of Kansas City, which has adopted a charter of its own. was related by Clarence S. Palmer, who said that not 5 per cent, of the voters of the city would return to the old style, if given an opportunity. The Supreme Court had held that the Legislature could not amend the chapter. The most attractive feature of the municipal programme and of the paper that had been read, in the estimation of Augustus L. Mason, of this city, was the greater power of self-government proposed. The evil of classification of cities, so great in some States, he did not regard as serious in Indiana, probably because there are but few large and many small cities. Another Ohio man, L. E. Holden, of Cleveland, said he indorsed every word of Mr. Deming's paper. The absence of the spirit of local self-government, he said, was a curst 1 to his State. The city charter of Cleveland, he said, centralized all power in the mayor. It had proved dangerous to vest so much power in one man. The mayor of Toledo, Samuel M. Jones, told how the city of Toledo was, by state law, prohibited from providing for competitive bidding for public electric lights. It was hardly necessary to ask the reason for the restriction. C. J. Murphy, of Evansville, president of the Indiana State Board of Commerce, recited the history of Evansville's attempt to secure anew charter, and told of the benefits that had been redped under it Mr. Murphy said: “The city charter of Evansville, Ind., went into effect in 1893. It is a very near approach to the ideal charter recommended by the committee appointed to submit its report to the sixth annual convention of the National Conference for Good City Government. The election for city officers is for two years—at a spring election—and mayor and Council are the only elective officers. Tho mayor appoints school trustees, water works trustees, the city judge and all head* of departments. Tho Council is composed of cue chamber, with 'four members elected from the city at large and seven members from the respective wards. The Council elects its presiding officer and clerk, who becomes city clerk. The appropriations are made annually by the Council upon recommendations from the various departments thiough the mayor, the controller being th® financial officer. The heads of departments must have their contracts ratified by the Council to make them valid. There has been no friction between the parts of this machinery and the efficiency of government secured by it is of a high standard. Th* only apparent friction has been of a personal kind, where officials w r ere not congenial or in differences of opinion in reference to some of the minor details or policies embodied in the charter. As these matters • involve no fundamental principles they are not easily settled by argument. Nothing has developed to shake the confidence or tha friends of the charter in the utility of tha plan. The moral results are seen in a better class of officers, more dignified proceedings in Council and leas suspicion and condemnation by the people and the press. Taxes have been reduced each year since 1893 from to $1.07 on the SIOO without lowering efficiency in government or raising the assessments.” A CITY RUN BY GAMBLERS. A. V. G. Lindley, of Nashville, Tonn., discussed conditions in his city, w T hich, ha said, is run by gamblers and saloon keepers, is in debt 10 per cent, of its valuation and has laid a tax of 2.5 cents on the dollar. Mr. Deming’s paper was indorsed by Samuel B. Capen, of Boston, saying the particular feature that appealed to his mind was the separation of the municipal from th# state government. In Boston the experiment of having single commissioners ove* various city departments. Instead of boards, has proved satisfactory. Following the public meeting there was an executive session, lasting until nearly 1 o’clock.

Samuel B. Capen, cf Boston, presided at tho afternoon meeting. A paper on “Tha Place of the Council and tho Mayor in tha Organisation ol' Municipal Government—tha Necessity of Distinguishing Legislation from Administration” was to have been read by Dr. Frank J. Goodnow, professor of administrative law in Columbia University, but, in his unavoidable absence, the paper was read by George W. Guthrie, of Pittsburg. Mr. Guthrie prefaced the reading of Dr. Goodnow’s paper with some remarks concerning the municipal programme laid down by the committee. His remarks were brought out by something that had been said at the morning meeting. It had been the purpose of the committee, lie said, to submit a form of government that would be responsiDle and responsive lo the people. The people, he said, must work out good government for themselves. No system of balances or checks would bring about good government. It must be the result of strong public sentiment. Legislative interference, to which attention had been called, he said, was due to corrupt influences and comes either from a desire to exercise power or from legislators from the rural district* thinking they know better what the city wants than the city itself. Proceeding to the programme of the afternoon Mr. Guthrie read Dr. Goodnow’s paper, an abstract of which is us follows: “With the development of new fields of governmental activity, which require for their advantageous treatment large technical skill and knowledge, and with the development of a more centralized administrativa system, which offers no excuse for treating administrative officers as political in character. tho fundamental principle that administration is a field of government in which politics should not enter is making steady progress. Public opinion based upon that principle is demanding with increasing force that in municipal government which is so distinctively administrative, the function of legislation, i. e., the function of determining policy must be clearly distinguished from the function of administration, i. e., the function of carrying out policy after its determination to the end that municipal administration may be efficient, and municipal legislation may consist in tho determination of a local policy representing the wishes of a majority of tha municipal population. “We can do much towards strengthening this opinion by incorporating the principle on which it rests into our municipal organization. For, while public opinion must bo back of all law, it is also true that law has much influence in molding public opinion. The civil-service law could not have been passed had there not been a strong publio opinion, but it is not to be doubted that the enforcement of the law has done much to strengthen public opinion. Can it be doubted that the incorporation in the municipal organization of this fundamental principle of the separation of legislation and administration will fail to have the same effect? Can we hope for any great Improvement In municipal conditions unless w# take this step?” A LOUISVILLE MAN’S VIEWS. Edward J. McDermott, of Louisville, whe was to have opened tho discussion, gave way to Clarence S. Palmer, of Kansas City, who explained that he had to catch his train in half an hour. Mr. Palmer was for three years associated with the law department of the Kansas City government and his ideas with regard to municipal government were the result of practical observation. He took issue with tho idea that the appointing power should be lodged in the mayor, contending that while the mayor ought to appoint the heads of departments they in turn should appoint the subordinates. "If our entire system of government by the majority is not a failure.” he said, “the Judgment of the peopie upon questions of municipal policy like the ownership erf water works and lighting plants, a progressive or conservative policy in regard to public improvements, a liberal or niggardly policy regarding parks, boulevards and libraries, and many other questions arising in a modern city, will, if directed to theso questions alone, generally be right. These are matters largely within the control of tna Council and In the election of this body the purposes and qualifications of the candidates on these lines ought to determine the preference of voters. The issue is greatly complicated if, in addition to these questions of policy, there is the question of patronage to he considered. If the election of certain men to the Council means desirable offices to a large number of voters, an army of applicants and their friends will make the question of policy simply secondary. The pay roll is the controlling factor. Under theso circumstances the successful candidates, knowing that the distribution of offices is the important issue in the election, promptly recognize their obligations, and efficient service In campaign work is recognized as a cardinal qualification for appointive office.” The speaker urged that it wms riesirablf to maze it plain to the voter that efficiency in adrr Intstrative departments depends upon the r'C-ction of an honest, faithful and capahie mayor. "Take away from the voter,” he urged, “the illusive assurance that requiring a confirmation by the legislative hodv would insure good appointments, even if the mayor is not entirely satisfactory. Let the Council have tho power of the purse, let it determine the questions of policy in accordance with the popular will, but leave the execution of that policy to other hands, and make it as easy as possible to determine tho efficiency of the results." Mr.Palmer concurred in the conclusion that the mayor should have absolute now’er in the appointment of heads of departments. “But,” he said, "it seems to mo that subordinate officers and employes should be appointed by heads of departments, not by tho mayor. In bona tide enforcement of civil-service regulations these suggestions (Continued on Sixth Page.)