Indianapolis Journal, Volume 49, Number 44, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 February 1899 — Page 4

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THE DAILY JOURNAL MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1899. Washington Office—lso3 Pennsylvania Avenue Telephone Call*. Business Office 238 | Editorial Rooms 86 TERMS OF SI BSCRIPTION. DAILY BY MAIL. Daily only, one month $ .70 Daily only, three months 2.00 Daily only, one year.... 8.00 Daily, including Sunday, one year 10.00 Sunday only, one year 2.00 WHEN FURNISHED BY AGENTS. Daily, per week, by carrier... 15 cts Sunday, siilgle copy 5 cts Daily and Sunday, per week, by carrier 20 cts WEEKLY. Per year ■jjs' |I.OO Reduced Rates to Clubs. Subscribe with any of our numerous agents or send subscriptions to the > journal newspaper company, Indinnapolls, Ind. Persons sending the Journal through the malls In the United States should put on an eight-p; ge paper a ONE-CENT postage stamp: on a twelve or sixteen-page paper a TWO-CENT postage stamp. Foreign postage is usually double these rates. AH communications intended for publication In this paper must. In order to receive attention, le accompanied by the name and address of the writer. THE 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., lit Vine street. LOUISVILLE—C. T. Deering, northwest comer of Third and Jefferson streets, and Louisville Book Cos., 256 Fourth avenue. ST. LOUlS—Union Nowb Company, Union Depot. WASHINGTON, D. C.-Riggs House, EbbUt House and Willard's Hotel. A willingness that the Nicaragua canal should go over to the next Congress finds expression in many papers. He is a demagogue of the sneak variety who assails or defends any cause by attempting to arouse Ignorant and narrow prejudice. Senator-elect Clark, of Montana, will be the richest man In the next Senate. He has been a contributor to the cause of 16 to 1 as the poor man’s money. Admiral Dewey has written a South Carolina man that he will not be a presidential candidate because his life and training have hot fitted him for the position. But the admiral is always sensible. It would be better for the Sentinel do criticise the entire Democratic side of the House for voting against the reform bill on Thursday than it is to accuse Republicans who voted for It of voting against it. A local state manager of a life insurance Company says his company has Issued more new policies since the beginning of the present year than during the same period in any former year, and that there is a largo Increase of business among farmers. Os course, this argxies prosperity and thrift. The raHroads have some rights, but when a bill is passed to require them to maintain stations at every little place having one hundred inhabitants, the fair inference is that such corporations exist for no good purpose. All the tickets sold at such small places for a year would not pay the cost of maintaining a station with an attendant one week. Senator Mason seems to have worked himself Ihto an undue excitement regarding a vote on the McEnery resolution concerning our Philippine policy. As it takes the concurrent action of both houses of Congress to determine that question, the Senate can afford to humor him. Even if adopted, the resolution would have no legislative force.

Some of the local art critics object to tho wax group on the soldiers’ monument because it does not conform to their ideal, '■whatever that may be. One of them thinks It lacks "emotional reflexive power’’ and another objects to it because it does not embody the sentiment of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Possibly these criticisms may be well founded, though it would take several diagrams to illustrate their meaning, but no person can deny that the war group represents war. Even an art critic would not mistake it for a representation of a summer picnic or a society function. One of the critics says: "Our civil war to preserve the Union has come to be commonly regarded as a war to free the negro, and that sentiment was no small factor in it in reality.” That Is true, but it was not necessary that It should be incorporated in both the war and the peace groups. It will be found a prominent feature in the latter. The Journal protests against the declaration that the Republicans in the Legislature are wholly responsible for the success or defeat of the so-called reform bills. Tho declaration of the platform of the Democratic state convention for county and township legislation to remedy existing evils is as emphatic as is that of the Republican convention. The bills were drawn by leading men in both parties—as much by Democrats as Republicans. The general features of the bills have been indorsed by several of the leading Democratic papers. Therefore, Democrats, if party pledges made in conventions amount to anything, aro under the same obligation to support the bills as •re Republicans. If all the Democrats and • dozen Republicans unite to defeat the proposed legislation the Democrats should be held mainly responsible for the failure. Furthermore, If the Democrats give their Votes for the measures they will be entitled to and will receive a share of the credit. The Indianapolis politicians and wire-pull-ers care nothing for the Interests of the State, but every measure, advocated by them la solely for their own particular and peculiar Interests. According to the Indianapolis theory tho rest of the State is memy a •üburb of the capital city. There is no doubt hut that reform is needed in the conduct of township and county affairs, but a change is not always reform and the people of the State should be sure that any measure w'hich has as its idea reform is so framed as to accomplish the end desired, and will not operate to the Interest of some particular section or class to the detriment of some pther. The foregoing is from the Logansport Journal. In some other papers such an absurd statement would not be entitled to notice. It Is noticed at this time because It is taken from an article Intended to oppose the county and other reform bills. In a portion of the article It Is declared that these bills were drawn in the interest of Marion county. That Is a ridiculous statement. The bills were drawn by men selected by the State Board of Commerce, who live In every part of the State and represent both parties. The assumption is that the bills, if laws, would give Indianapolis stationers a large amount of trade. If that could be so, why are some of leading dealers In county supplies in this city lobbying •gainst those bills? If the law would •perate in favor of the dealers In this city to the detriment of other sections, why are some of those doing the most business in

that line in this city fighting- the bills? The Logansport paper must know that its assault upon the people of Indianapolis is unjust and without cause. The city is made up largely of people who have ccme from every other section of the State, so that this assault is an attack upon the State at large. It was made with a view of defeating the bills by an appeal to prejudice. It Is a contemptible method. THE NEW STHEET-RAII,R()AD DEAL. If the new street railroad company wished to begin with a clean record and do the best thing possible by the city and the public, it has taken a judicious first stop in getting the control and buying the rights of both of the existing companies. Sometimes the best way to end a controversy is to buy it. As long as the two old companies existed it might have taken years of litigation to settle the controversy between them and define the rights of both. The plan adopted by the new' company cuts a knot that would have been very difficult to untie and places the street railroad interests of the city on a basis that furnishes an advantageous starting point for future operations. To accomplish this it w T as necessary for the new company to get control of both of the old ones. The City Company owed its existence and charter to the fact that the Citizens’ Company would not deal fairly with the city or the public. Although the City Company never laid a rail, it did the public a good service In compelling the Citizens’ Company to make some concessions and recognize that the city and |he public had some rights it was bound to respect. This being the case, the public would not have been satisfied with any deal that aimed at giving the Citizens’ Company new standing while ignoring the City Company. The purchase of the franchises and rights of both companies, to be united and merged in anew one, to be operated under anew name and new contract with the city, avoids this difficulty. If this arrangement is a good one for the new company, it is equally so for the city, as it will bring up immediately the question of anew franchise and all the details of anew contract with the company. That the city should get a substantial return for anew franchise goes without saying. An exclusive franchise for thirty years or more for the use of all the streets for street-railroad purposes is worth a great deal, and the city should have for it a substantial equivalent, besides guarantees relative to paving, service, etc. These details will not be difficult to arrange if both parties approach the matter in a spirit of fairness and liberality. The city should be glad to have a vexatious controversy disposed of, and the new company should be willing to pay a fair price for a valuable franchise. Its representatives talk very reasonably, but as yet they have not indicated definitely what kind of a contract they are willing to make. The first thing necessary to clear the way for further action is a definite understanding between the city and the new company as to what kind of a contract they are willing to make with the city. They cannot reasonably ask for the repeal of the legislation of two years ago, leaving the city holding the bag, as it were, and the new company master of the situation, without previously and distinctly indicating in advance what kind and how much of an equivalent they are willing to pay for the new franchise which they will ask. When the representatives of the new company shall have done this to the satisfaction of the city authorities and the people themselves the Journal sees no reason why the Legislature should not promptly pass the act authorizing anew contract.

A FARMER OX REFORM IX LOCAL GOVERNMENT, The Terre Haute Gazette publishes a communication from “Honey Creek Farmer,” in which the writer, wlio, the Gazette says, is a Democrat, praises Governor Mount for his efforts to bring about retrenchment and refrain in local government, or, as the writer puts it, "to protect the farmers against the ravages of county and township officers.” This expression is too strong to 1/c applied indiscriminately to all county and township officers, but not too strong to apply to a system that not only permits but invites loose business methods and extravagant expenditures. No doubt a large majority of county commissioners and township trustees are honest when elected and many remain so to tho end of their terms of office, but many do not. Some of them are weak, some have crude ideas of official integrity and responsibility, and some regard election to office as a license to make all they can out of it. Some of them are accessible to improper influences, willingly, and others without knowing it. That was a. curious case related a few days ago by ex-Lieuten-ant Governor Nye. "Not long ago,” ho said, "a township trustee whom everybody considered an honest man and who was very confident of his own honesty said in the course of a conversation with me that ‘nobody could bribe him.’ He had just bought nine Webster’s Unabridged Dictionaries for the schools, ‘and the agent,’ he said, ‘just gave me one.’ ” Probably he had paid an excessive price for the dictionaries, which perhaps were not needed at all, and he did not even know that he had been bribed. It would be rash to attempt to guess how many thousands of county commissioners in the past twentylive years have accepted costly presents from dealers in certain lines of goods to whom they have given orders. Some of these dealers carry large stocks of handsome and costly articles to bo used as presents to county and township officers. Hundreds of township trustees have been bribed by dealers in schoolbook supplies with presents for themselves or members of their families into making extravagant purchases with public funds. Little frauds lead to big ones, and all help to swell the burden of the taxpayers. A system that breeds extravagance and makes men dishonest, even one man in a hundred, is a bad one. To return to “Honey Creek Farmer.” After complimenting Governor Mount as stated, he says: The farmer taxpayers of this county are alarmed at there being such an organization in our State as Count* Officers’ Association. They fail to see a good cause for such an organization against the ninety-two county treasuries of our State, which means against the taxpayers of the State, that this very year aro unable to meet their tax obligations. And the farmers of this county are alarmed at the concert of action of the township trustees ail over the State. What good reason can there be for such concert of action of more than one thousand township trustees of our State if it is not in the interest of the authors of their organization? The class of men most active in their organization are those situated at Indianapolis, in the school-supply business. Now, why would It not be a better plan for a township trustee to meet annually with his constituents to consult them as to the wants of the township in his charge than to meet a thousand trustees of the State and all tho school-supply and road-supply men on earth? Good reasons might be given for an organization of county officers and for concert of action among township trustees if their efforts were devoted exclusively to the introduction of better methods of business and to the Interchange of ideas regarding

THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1899.

the proper construction and administration of the law. Probably some good has been done in that direction, but unfortunately these organizations have not confined their efforts to this line. They have attempted to defeat legislation Intended to benefit the people and to prevent the success of popular movements for reform. “Honey Creek Farmer” says these organizations of county and township officers “constitute a lobby the like of which has heretofore been unknown, the strength and disposition of which is extremely dangerous to the best interests of the taxpayers of our State.” If this states the case pretty strongly, there is at least foundation for it. The organization of county officers opposed and defeated every attempt to pass a fee and salary law until 1895, and they and the Township Trustees’ Association are both opposing the pending measures for reform in local government. The legislative reports of Indiana are full of the tracks of county officers. If there is legitimate work for such associations to do it certainly does not include lobbying against measures demanded by every principle of good government, desired by the people and promised by the state conventions of both parties. The people have a right to complain when county and township officers oppose measures of retrenchment and reform, and no matter by what motives the official opponents of such measures may pretend to be actuated, the peo-* pie will believe they are actuated by motives of self-interest. Such opposition furnishes a strong argument in favor of reform. There are a great many more farmers in the State than there are county and township officers, and if the farmers would organize in favor of reform legislation the anti-farmers and anti-reformers would soon be routed. TOO MUCH POWER. One of the opponents of the township government bill has made the point that the township has very little to do in cities, dealing chiefly with the agricultural portions of the State. To some extent this is true, but if it were all true, it is not much of an argument to say that the farmers are willing to have a local government in which they have no voice and under which a dishonest official, who cannot be got rid of for four years, can play the autocrat. The point is that no one official should have the power to raise money to build schoolhouses without the approval of the people or of some advisory board which cannot make any money out of the construction. The objection to the township bill that township government is an affair of the township outside of cities and towns, while it is not valid, does not apply to the measure for the better government of counties. Taxpayers in cities have as much interest in a better system that will prevent loose and extravagant practices as have those in the townships who have no other government. There are laws which are intended to limit the acts of county commissioners in many respects, but scarcely a week passes that local papers do not give ccses where these officers ignore the laws. In Shelby county the commissioners contracted for thousands of dollars’ worth of bridges without advertising for the lowest Udders. In Tippecanoe an action has been begun to prevent the making of a contract for printing and supplies at a much higher rate than others will contract to do the work. How many counties are carrying a burden for an expensive courthouse because commissioners can build such houses when every voter in the county is opposed? Is it not a notorious fact that most courthouses have cost much more than private corporations would pay for equally good buildings? While most commissioners follow the provisions of the laws relative to making financial statements, many do not. Those ‘who advocate the bill to Improve county government believe that the county commissioners have more power than should be conferred upon any men—powers which conflict with our theory of government. They believe that no men should be given the power to make levies and expend the money obtained from them. They believe that the best three men in any county should not have the power to construct public buildings without the consent of the voters or of a legislative board representing the people. In short, they desire a government in counties in which the people can have a voice. They are opposed to irresponsible dictatorship by three men in county affairs.

The Henry County Republican objects to the county government reform bill on the ground that it will create a printing monopoly at the capital to the detriment of local newspaper and job offices. It says: A “reform" bill, evidently manipulated by the big printing and supply houses of the state capital. Is being pushed through, which is so drawn as to rob every Republican home newspaper ot honest competition In county printing. The county press is the backbone of the Republican party, and anything that weakens it is an injury to the party at large. The county newspaper does more gratuitous work for the success of the party than all the politicians of the State combined, and yet the party to which they are always true and loyal legislates away a large part of their support to enrich publishing and supply houses which have been robbing the State for years. This is not either justice o* good party sense. It certainly would not be either justice or good party sense, and nobody has thought of doing it. There is not a line in the proposed bill providing for the printing of blanks or books at the capital or that would deprive local offices of any printing whatever. The statement is a canard started by the opponents of the bill. As for "the big printing and supply houses of the capital” referred to by the Republican they are all opposing the biU. The Lafayette Courier says: Someone too cowardly to attach his name is sending to the state press from Indianapolis a typewritten letter purporting to give the "History of the Origin of the Countv and Township Reform Bills,” in which the most reckless and untruthful Insinuations are made against newspapers and men of the capital city who have interested themselves in the movement. The Courier has a copy of the letter. It is ridiculous on its face, but the worst feature is that it has back of it some unprincipled individual who Is willing for some purpose to assail the character of any man who opposes hint in his attitude toward this movement. The fact that this sneaking circular emanates from Indianapolis does not consist with the statement that the reform bill was framed In the interest of "big printing and supply houses of the capital.” The circular is a fair sample of the kind of opposition that is being waged against the bill. Two recent statements have practically ended the Sampson-Schley controversy, which, by the way, was not started or carried on by the officers themselves, but by their respective friends. The two statements alluded to are the report of a board of naval officers appointed by the secretary to investigate and report the actual facta regarding the position, movements and operations of each ship in the battle off Santiago harbor, and the reply of the secretary himself to a resolution recently passed by the Senate calling on the Navy Department for all records in its possession upon which the nominations of Admirals Sampson and

Schley to their present grades were based. The two reports are a complete justification of the action of the department and the President in advancing Sampson above Schley, and while they do not detract from Schley’s credit in the engagement with Cervera’s fleet they show that in view' of his previous disobedience of orders in a critical emergency the President’s recognition of his later service was very generous. As the secretary puts it: His conduct while in independent command prior to June 1, the report of which has been given above, and which by reason of its unsteadiness in purpose and failure to obey orders, did not meet w'ith the approval of the President, or the department, was yet not permitted to stand in the way of his nomination for promotion to a higher grade for the part he took in that final triumph. As further evidence that the friends of Schley have no reason to complain it is shown that Sampson himself, while not overlooking Schley’s previous disobedience of orders, requested that ample justice be done him for his part in the action of July 3, and Sampson's letter to that effect is embodied in the report. The overzealous friends of Schley have not made much by their persistent agitation of the matter. BURBLES IN THE AIR, Home Cliat. Mrs. Wiekwire— Oh, have you seen Kipling's poem on “The White Man’s Burden?” Mr. Wiekwire—No. What is it—another one of those woman poems? Explained. Watts—When 1 get to thinking of the human race, it seems to me that, as an investment, it really does not pay. Potts —You must remember that the average man is almost fO per cent, water. Disgusted Patriot. Weary Watkins—l want to tell you dat dis country is jist rotten; dat’s all! Hungry Higgins—What’s de matter now? “Look at dis Eagin guy; dey finds ’im guilty an orders ’im to quit work fer six years!” None. Timmins—l had a notion to w r rite a paragraph to the effect that this sort of weather justified a man in getting drunk, but I was afraid the weather would change before I could get it published. Lushforth—And how could that make any difference?

STATE PRESS OPINION. The present Legislature must not lose sight of the fact that the people, regardless of politics, are asking for the passage of county and township reform laws.—Greensburg Review. it is a credit to Montgomery county politics that cur county and township officials are not lobbying against the reform bills, at least so far as known, and that our two representatives and one senator are loyally supporting them.—Crawfordsville Journal. In view of the annoying complications developed since the close of hostilities in our war with Spain, and the cultivation of a, disposition to throw obstacles in the way of an honorable peace, one is justified in wondering whether it wouldn’t have been better, when the peace protocol was proposed, to have promptly answered: “There are no terms but unconditional surrender.’’—Angola Magnet. The people are in earnest in the matter of county and township reform. The matter has sprung spontaneously from those who realize that our present system is defective. It is not that the men now in office are criminals, but that the system used permits unscrupulous men who sometimes get into office to administer their office against the interests of the people. It is to correct the possibility of such abuse that the people are demanding the reform.—Seymour Republican. The people of the State are awfully tired of seeing David Goss, superintendent of the Indianapolis schools, put in all his time during the sessions of the Indiana Legislature lobbying around the halls of the Statehouse and in the corridors of the hotels. The president of the State University and of the State Normal are not guiltless along that line. These gentlemen and the Indiana Schoolbook Company seem too anxious to retain the State Board cf Education as it is now constituted.—Greenfield Republican. Senate bill No. 31, concerning the transaction of township business, is before the Legislature and is likely to become a law. It is of great importance to all the people in the State who pay taxes. * * * One of the leading taxpayers and best financiers of the county said to us yesterday, after having carefully examined this township bill as well as that concerning county business, that Laporte county would save $50,000 if they are adopted.—Laporte Republican. Several township trustees who are excellent and faithful officers seem not to have read the township trustee bill pending in the Legislature, judging from their objections to it. One of them says he cannot do his business because he would be compelled to consult the board of advisers In every little matter. There Is no such provision in the bill. The township trustee is limited no more in the discharge of his duties by the township council than is the mayor by the city council.—Rushville Graphic. Asa rule, taxpayers are too much absorbed in their private affairs to pay the often-needed attention to them. Having elected men to attend to them, and having confidence in the integrity and ability of those men, they prefer to give all their time to private business. Were there more care taken in selecting officers, this would be the proper course practically as it is theoretically, but this is not always done. This being so, taxpayers would do well occasionally to meet and talk over matters, if only to warn officials that they must account to a higher power.—Muncie News. The township trustees over the State are being heard from in opposition to the bills now before the Legislature for the reform of township business. Let it be distinctly understood that these bills are aimed at the loose methods of doing the public business and not against the trustees; let it further be known that no provision of the bills affects an honest trustee, and that the added expense of the township and county councils is but a trifle. The main object of the bills is to separate the legislative and administrative functions of county and township governments and have them do business just like a state or national government.—Noblesville Ledger. The opposition to the county and township reform bills is confined principally to county and township officers. Many of these gentlemen, we doubt not, oppose them honestly, because they believe them impracticable and unwise. We know honest and honorable office holders in Montgomery county who are opposing them on these grounds. But they are not contributing money or valuable time to bring about their defeat. An officer who does that lias something at stake concerning his private interests. However. the bills are backed by the best sentiment of the State as reform measures, the people demand reform and the Republican party has promised reform. Unless the Republican party wishes to stultify itself, the bills must go through In substantially the form in which they were introduced.—Crawfordsville Journal. The Courier is in hearty sympathy with the Legislature's disposition to provide proper means for the care of the State’s insane, and recognizes that present asylum accommodations are insufficient to meet the demands. But is it necessary to establish a new institution at Columbus to secure the end desired? The Senate vote yesterday indicated that this is the plan. The Courier has no objection to Columbus, but is inclined to the opinion that a better decision would be to enlarge the existing institutions so that they might care for these unfortunate wards. The basis for this opinion lies in the fact that this would not create the necessity for anew administration force —trustees, superintendent, employes, e t c ._for if constructed on the site of the present asyffums there need be but little additional expense to the State in conducting the enlarged institutions. It is hoped that the House will carefully consider this point when the bill comes up in that branch. —Lafayette Courier. ARuinaltlo Has Not Lout All. St. Louis Republic. Aguinaldo may have lost his army, but he still has his golden collar, his silver whistle and a number of Job lot Juntas.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS. Work of Two Poet*, Philip Henry Savagre and Josephine Preston Peabody. Messrs. Copeland & Day, of Boston, are doing a service to literature by putting into permanent form the work of certain of the minor poets who would otherwise be known only in the passing pages of periodicals. Not all of the verses found in the dainty little volumes for which this house is becoming noted are of high merit. No two poets, even among the great ones, rank alike, and no writer is always at his best, so it happens that among the minor singers all are not of equal excellence and the individual productions not of even quality. Enough is good in each book, however, to justify the publication, and they serve to mark progress in an age when so much good verse is being produced that even a public unused to classical standards grows critical and improves its standard. Os two little volumes recently issued, one, by Mr. Philip Henry Savage, may be regarded as a series of studies of nature as found in New England. He is not always poetical—sometimes, indeed, very far from it, as in the verses entitled Presto”—but he has a love for the common things of out-of-door life and a sentiment concerning them that takes them out of the commonplace. His poem on ”Silkweed” shows this quality and suggests that what he has done is but a promise of better work: Lighter tfia.n dandelion down, Or feathers from the white moth's wing, Out of the gates of brambletown The silkweed goes a-gypsying. •••• a ' • Softly, as if instinct with thought, They iioat and drift, delay and turn; And one avoids and one is caught Between an oak leaf and a fern. And one holds by an airy line The spider drew from tree to tree; And if the web is light and tine, ’Tis not so light and fine as he! And one goes questing up the wall. As if to find a door; and then, As if he did not care at all. Goes over and adown the glen. And all in airiest fashion fare, Adventuring, as if, indeed, ’Twere not so grave a thing to bear The burden of a seed! Josephine Preston Peabody has the distinction of refinement and of thought that goes beneath the surface. She has admirable technical skill also, and her "Wayfarers” contains much that calls for more than one reading. Some of the poems are vaguely mystical, some religious in tone, some joyously lyrical. To the first belongs “The Wayfarers,” which gives the volume its name; to the next, “One that Followed,” which is a fine expression of worship. In “Envoy” she states her aim to be 'To set this reed Unto the voice of Everyday, With its familiar yea and nay, Unto the common heart and need. ****• So I some day with better grace May take the bounty of the place; Some day w r ith eyes that know the years 1 may have wiser words to sing, Nor eat my bread with furtive tears Os home-longing. But go where lights and highways call, To hear the soothsay of them all, And rest by any door; With hands outheld and heart uplift To take, and welcome for a gift, The wisdom of the one day more. The American Sugar Industry. Popular interest in the cultivation of the sugar beet lias led to the preparation by Herbert Myrick, editor of the American Agriculturist and the Orange Judd Farmer, of a manual giving results of all experience in the United States up to 1599 in the culture of sugar beets and sugar cane and the manufacture of sugar therefrom. The book is divided into four parts. The first treats of the sugar industry in its economic aspects and its bearing upon American agriculture. Part two shows what has been done in the cane sugar business. Part three presents the development of the domestic beet sugar industry up to the close of 1896. In part four the increase in sugar beet culture and in the manufacture of sugar therefrom during the past two years presents an array of facts that reads almost like a fairy tale. Apparently it more than confirms the author's claim that this new industry has long since passed the experimental stage and is now permanently established as a commercial success, profitable alike to farmer, laborer and capitalist. A remarkable array of facts is given, including the eleven years’ record of the sugar mill at Watsonville, Gal., and many pictures of a dozen or fifteen other large and successful beet sugar factories in New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Utah, Oregon, California and New Mexico. Published by the Orange Judd Company.

The Open Question. This story, by “E. C. Ralmond,” otherwise Elizabeth Robins, an American actress, has been widely advertised as one of the great novels of the year. Those readers who like “problem” novels of the pathological variety may agree with the advance notices, but the others who demand that even problems shall be well handled, will lay it down with disappointment. The story, which deals with the question of whether or not consumptives shall marry, is over five hundred pages in length, and over three hundred of them are given up to the narration of a complicated family history, the most of which has little bearing on the general theme and is extremely tedious. The conclusion arrived at by the young couple concerned, who are first cousins and inherit consumption, is that they ought not to marry, but they finally decide to do so, and, to evade the responsibility of bringing offspring Into the world, resolve to commit suicide whenever such a prospect threatens One character in the book, the grandmother* is strongly drawn; the others lack the vividness of life and are mere pegs to hang the narrative on. Something like a dozen deaths take place in the course of the story, and these, together with its morbid atmosphere and inartistic handling, make it heavy reading. Published by Harper & Brothers. Vacation Days in Hawaii and Japan. This is a record of a three months’ tour in the Hawaiian islands and Japan, by Charles M. Taylor. The author covered a great deal of ground in a short space of time, and relates his experiences in a very business-like way, without any waste of words or attempt at fine writing. The description of Hawaii and its people and scenery is good, but the most interesting part of the book is that relating to Japan. In his journey through that country the author did not follow beaten tracks, but, after visiting the most important cities, penetrated far into the interior of the country and to districts scarcely ever reached by Englishspeaking people. In these remote districts he came in contact with the natives in their primitive mode of living, unaffected by the progress of modern civilization in Japan. A very interesting feature of the book is the numerous pictures, from photographs taken by the author, of Japanese people, men, women and children, engaged at their ordinary vocations, also pictures of Japanese scenery, factories, shops, living rooms, temples, etc. These illustrations are remarkable for their realism. Philadelphia; George W. Jacobs & Cos. An Angel in a Web. This story, by Julian Ralph, is a curious blending of everyday affairs with the supernatural. As the production of a writer who is best known for his newspaper articles on practical themes it is something of a surprise. He does not deal with ghosts, that is, no beings of the spirit world make their appearance, but he describes them as “ethereans,” namely, departed friends and relatives of the living personages of the tale who still retain an interest in earthly affairs and an affection for those left behind. He depicts them as trying through occult means to influence the conduct of the living, not always for the best, but as their inclinations, not yet unselfish, dictate. In order to make his ethereans more effective the author is compelled to represent his heroine as strangely lacking in natural sense and judgment. Ha is not entirely successful in this his first effort at extended fiction, but it is nevertheless a readable story. Harper & Brothers, publishers. The IVauieless Castle. Mr. Maurice Jokai, the Hungarian author, has written many novels, but few of them have been translated, and those not satisfactorily until now that the Doubleday-Mc-Clure Company has undertaken to bring him before the American public through a version authorized by the author. The first to be issued. "The Nameless Castle.” serves well as an introduction. It is a story of adventure, of political intrigue and International complications, ail hinging upon the abduction and imprisonment of a child of royal birth—a daughter, indeed, of no less a personage than Marie Antoinette. No such child ever existed, according to historical

chronicles, but her Invention serves well enough for the purposes of romance and serves admirably as material for so skillful a writer as Jokai to weave a thrilling tale of. It la a very readable story. Rembrandt. This story, otherwise styled a romance of Holland, has for Its hero the great Dutch painter, Rembrandt, and utilizes some incidents in his career. Among other characters introduced in the story are the beautiful Saskla, who became Rembrandt’s wife; Franz Hals, another great painter of the period; Dr. Tulp, the anatomist, and others of Rembrandt s contemporaries and friends. In fact, the story incorporates a good deal of what is known of the great artist’s life, though the license of fiction is freely oxer£ cised. The story possesses something of thW interest of a biography supplemented by a tender romance, and makes the reader feel as if he had formed a personal acquaintance with Rembrandt. The author is Walter Cranston Earned, and the book is published by the Scribners. Life and Teachings of Christ. This is a continuous narrative of the life and teachings of Christ as given by the four evangelists. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The compiler, an English scholar whose name is not given, has taken from each of the gospels, without altering a single word of the disciple’s story, the account of that period of Christ’s life, which was most complete in each one, and has thus produced a fuller account than is supplied by any one of the gospels. Numerous striking photographs of the sacred places of Palestine add to the interest and reality of the story. There is a very interesting introduction by the Rev. Dr. Farrar, dean of Canterbury. Doubleday & McClure Company. * Irish Wit and Humor. Irish wit and humor is a factor in human experience which the world could ill afford to lose. In some of its qualities it is second to the wit and humor of no nation on earth, and it has contributed much to the brightening of literature, the birth of happy thoughts and the innocent mirth of those who appreciate quick plays of fancy and wit. A little volume entitled “Irish Wit and Humor,” consists of a compilation of characteristic specimens. Such a book is not to be read consecutively, but one may get amusement out of it. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Cos. Paleface and liedskin. This is the title given to a volume of stories for boys and girls by F. Anstey. The palefaces and redskins who are the actors in the main story are little boys and girls who play at being Indians, fighting, etc., and the other stories, six in number, are on a different line. They are intended for quite juvenile readers and are amusingly illustrated. D. Appleton & Cos. Midwinter Magazines. Perhaps every reader of Miss Sara Orne Jewett’s pathetic yet pleasing little story in the February Atlantic, “The Queen’s Twin,” will wish that the queen therein alluded to might read it also. The International Magazine (Chicago) gives a Spanish lesson in each issue for the benefit of those who wish to fit themselves for residence in our new colonies, and now offers instruction in French to persons who contemplate visiting the Paris exposition. Gunton’s Magazine is devoted entirely to discussion of economic and social questions. The treatment is practical, rather than theoretical, in that the writers deal with present events and conditions. Some of the topics in the February nujmoer are “Prosperity and Social Education,” “intelligent Taxation” ‘ and "Cuba’s Industrial Problems.” Among the best and most practical features of the household magazines of the day, is one carried out by “Table Talk” (Philadelphia), which, in giving menus for the month, adds directions for the economical carrying out of the same. The February issue has this attractive feature, as w T eil as many recipes, given in reply to inquiries from housekeepers all over the country. A panoramic view of Manila is given in Leslie's Weekly this week, and an unusual form of punishment in the army by the “spread-eagle” method is illustrated on the front page. Fataulea, the cleverest and most influential woman in Samoa, is included in a page of pictures illustrating life in Samoa, the present center of contentions between the representatives of the United States and Great Britain and Germany.

The Book Buyer (Scribner’s) opens with a review of Theodore Roosevelt's writings. Those who are not familiar with his literary work will be surprised at its variety and extent as here outlined. Among other features of the number is a brief sketch, with portrait, of F. P. Dunn, better known as "Mr. Dooley.” An interview with George W. Cable contains some advice to “The Young Author from an Old Author.” There is the usual variety of excellent book reviews. The question of handling the wires and gas, water and drainage pipes in great cities, and even in towns, is becoming with each year one of greater importance. A prize was offered to the engineers of the United States by the Cosmopolitan magazine for the ablest article suggesting a scientific, economical solution of this problem. The paper of Henry F. Bryant has been selected by the committee as the one mest ably meeting the conditions. It appears in the February Cosmopolitan. A pretty medieval romance entitled “The Falcon of Langeac” received many complimentary notices from the reviewers when it appeared last year. The author, Isabel Nixon Whitely, contributes another very readable tale, “For the French Lilies,” to Lippincott’s Magazine, making the complete novel of the February number. Mrs. Wnitely will be remembered by Indianapolis readers as the daughter of Rev. J. H. Nixon, once pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. The first paper in the February issue of the North American Review, by Col. Sir G. S. Clarke, of England, and entitled “Imperial Responsibility a National Gain,” is one which conservative people can read with profit. He shows that Great Britain’s colonial policy has not only beer, a commercial advantage to the British nation, but that the responsibility which such power brings has given the British a sense of superiority that has stimulated the patriotism and added to the purpose of the empire. While this article is the most Important, others full of Interest make the February number one of unusual value. Mrs. Dew Wallace is moved to a deep sympathy for school children and their teachers, all of whom she thinks are overworked. What she says of the children, in her article in the Dadies’ Home Journal, has often been said in substance by others, and has been as often disputed by persons who aro well acquainted with the workings of the schools. These persons assert that while children are required to learn a little of a good many things, the constant effort of the educational system is to make the learning easy for them, to sugar-coat it and lubricate It in every possible way. The doing of this lays heavy burdens upon the teachers, and what she says as to their overwork is not overdrawn wherever the elaborate public school system is in vogue. During the past six years New York and Boston publishers have sold over 70,000 textbooks on birds, and the ranks of bird students are constantly growing. With this phenomenal and steadily Increasing Interest in bird studies, there seems to be a place for a periodical of a popular rather than a technical character devoted to birds. To meet this want_ the Macmillan Company has begun the publication of an attractive little bi-monthly magazine called Bird Dore. It is edited by Frank M. Chapman, assistant curator in the American Museum of Natural History in New York city, author of a "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America,” and “Bird Life.” The prospectus of this journal names among its contributors for 1899, John Burroughs. Bradford Torrey, Dr. Henry van Dyke, Olive Thorne Miller, Florence A. Merriam, Mabel Osgood Wright and Annie Trumbull Siosson, and tho first number, just issued, contains articles by Mr. Burroughs, Miss Merriam. and others. It will be the official organ of the Audubon societies. Steveneson’s letters published in Scribner give more than mere glimpses into the heart and nature of the man and confirm the belief of those w r ho knew him through his stories that he was first of all an honest, simple-minded gentleman. Here Is a curious confession, which is an illustration in point: “How curiously we are built up into our false positions. The other day, having toothache and the black dog on my back generally, I was rude to one of the servants at the dinner table. Nothing, of course, can be more disgusting than for a man to speak harshly to a young woman who wil. lose her place if she speak back to him; and. of course, I determined to apologize. Well, do you know, it was perhaps four days before 1 found courage enough, and i felt as red and ashamed as could be. Wh> ?

Because I had been rude? Not a bit of it; because I was doing a thing that would ha called ridiculous 4n thus apologizing. I did not know I had so much respect of middleclass notions before: this is my right hand, which I must cut off. Hold the arm, please —one. twice, thrice; the offensive member i amputated; let us hope I shall never be such a cad any more as to be ashamed of being a gentleman." A beautiful wood engraving of Mary Woolstoncraft, from a painting by John Ople, forms the frontispiece of the February Century. Some fine work of this elass is being done by this magazine. This number of the magazine has several articles bearing on the recent war, among them one entitled “How Other Countries Do It—An Inquiry into the Consular System of Other Nations,” but prominence is given to other features. One notable contribution is that by James L. Hughes pointing out what a service Dickens did to childhood by portraying tho evils existing in schools and the methods of coercion used In the processes of education. Says the writer: “He took the most advanced position on every phase of modern educational thought, except manual training. When he is thoroughly understood ho will be recognized as the Froebel of England.” Mr. Paul Leicester Ford is making a very entertaining serial of his history of “The Many-sided Franklin.” Walter Wellman has a chapter of his experiences “On the Way to the. North Pole.” Among other contributions are: “Henry George In California,” “Alexander’s Conquest of Asia Minor,” “Harnessing the Nile," and several short stories, one of them an amusing "Christian Science” sketch by Lucy S. Furman. In the North American Review for February F. Spencer Baldwin, professor of economics in. Boston University, furnishes an essay upon “Some Aspects of Luxury.” The luxuries of the few in one generation, declares he, become the common heritage of the many in the next. Luxury is a main factor In tho onward movement of the race. It stands for much of the beauty, grace and variety which alone make life really worth the living. "The economist,” he says, "who indicts luxury on the ground that it makes men lazy loses sight entirely of the effect of the prospect of luxury in making men work. If luxury Itself tbnds to slacken tho energies of individuals, the desire for luxury tends to quicken their energies. The second tendency is at least as strong as the first. I am Inclined to believe it the stronger. Men would probably work less rather than more if the prospect of luxury were taken away. Avery powerful motive to industrial activity would thus be destroyed.” The second count in the economic indictment of luxury—that it retards the formation of capital—is next examined. “It rauy be well to state at once,” says Professor Baldwin, “that this charge is indisputably true. Luxury does diminish the accumulation of capital. You can't both eat your cake and save it. But is it sound social economy to save as many cakes as possible? This appears to me to be a debatable question,” he adds, and then goes on and debates it in a fashion pleasing to those who find it easy to spend and hard to save. Whatever Jane Addams, of Hull House, has to say on the subject of philanthropy is worth reading. She is not emotional noit sentimental, nor given in the least to gush; she is sympathetic, yet at the same time keenly intelligent and controlled by common sense, and in her labors among the poor has made a study of causes as well as of individuals and conditions. She touches in her article In the February Atlantic upon many things that puzzle and distress some oharlty workers, but which are such subtle problems that others, less sensitive, never discover that they exist. One is tho difficulty experienced by the charity visitor of getting at the same point of view with those whom she would benefit. Miss Addams has herself reached the point where she can understand why a family helped byt charity may use the money for recreation and so be providing themselves with what they are nearly as much In need of as food and clothing. She represents a charity association and yet sees why a system which substitutes a theory of social conduct for the natural promptings of the heart fails to meet all requirements. By way of illustration she says: “The poor man who haa fallen into distress, when he first asks aid, instinctively expects tenderness, consideration and forgiveness. If it is the first time, it has taken him long to make up his mind to the step. He comes somewhat bruised and battered, and instead of being met by warmth of heart and sympathy he is at onca chilled by an investigation and an intimation that he ought to work. He does not see that he is being dealt with as a child of defective will is cared for by a stern parent. There have been no years of previous intercourse and established relation, as between parents and children. lie feels only tha postponement or refusal, which he considers harsh. He does not “live to thank his parents for it,” as the disciplined child is reported to do, but cherishes a hardness of heart to his grave. The only really popular charity is that of visiting nurses, who carry about with them a professional training, which may easily be interpreted into sympathy and kindness, in their ministration to obvious needs without investigation.”

Publishers’ Notes. Messrs. M. F. Mansfield & A. W r essels, of 22 East Sixteenth street. New York, aro publishing for subscribers a reprint facsimile of the first (Lahore) “Public Document” edition of Ki) ling’s Departmental Ditties, now so rare as to be almost inaccessible. Late in Feburary the Lipplncotts will publish “The Daughters of Babylon,” by Wilson Barrett and Robert Hichens, based upon Mr. Barrett’s play of the same name. The combination of the author of “The Sign of the Cross” with the author of “The Green Carnation.” “An Imaginative Man,” and “Flames” should result in a striking story. G. P. Putnam’s Sons will publish shortly “Methods and PrQblems of Spiritual Healing,” by Horatio W. Dresser, author of “The Power of Silence,” etc. This book it expected to prove of interest to all who are investigating the problem of mental cure, or cure by suggestion. It makes a careful study of the phenomena of metaphysical healing, and is the result of a long series of careful Investigations of the subject. The life of Edwin M. Stanton which Houghton, Mifflin & Co* will publish in a few weeks, can hardly fall to be a very interesting work. Stanton was a very large figure In the war for the Union, and the fact that he was uncommonly brusque and Inevitably made many enemies will certainly not detract from the interest of the biography. It is In two volumes, written with the full sanction of the Stanton family by Hon. George C. Gorham, for some years secretary of the United States Senate. Aguinaldo, the Man. Review of Reviews. In his features, face and skull Aguinaldo looks more like a European than a Malay, lie Is what would be called a handsome man. arid might be compared with many young men in the province of Andalusia, Spain. If there be truth in phrenology he is a man above the common. The zone of the skull, which indicates mentality is well developed for a European—abnormally large for a Malay. The moral zone is of medium development, and the animal or cerebellar zone is comparatively small, with the exception of the reach over the ears, indicating destructiveness and cruelty. The phrenologists would be borne out by the consensus of those who know him. Friends and enemies agree that he is intelligent. ambitious, far-sighted, brave, selfcontrolled. honest, moral, vindictive, and at times cruel. He possesses the quality which friends call wisdom and enemies call craft. According to those who like him he is courteous, polished, thoughtful, and dignified; according to those who dislike him he Is Insincere, pretentious, vain and arrogant. Both admit him to be genial, generous, selfsacrificing, popular and capable in the administration of affairs. If the opinion of his foes be accepted he Is one of the greatest Malays on the page of history. If the opinion of his friends be taken as the criterion he is one of the great men of history Irrespective of race. What English Clergymen Prefer. Literature. A contributor to a contemporary clerical journal records an interesting fact as to the literary preferences of the clergy. The writer had occasion to Inquire of many clergymen as to what classes of books they were willing to review for a periodical with which he was connected. Eleven out of fifty-seven expressed a desire for novels, and one announced that he was willing to deal with devotional literature. Six of the reverend gentlemen wished works on “accurate theology”—whatever that may be. Great Man In Distress. New York Sun. ’*** The great Professor Van Holst has taken charge of the country again, and he seems to think that he has a pretty hard Job. He reports very bad weather. He sees the ship of state “drifting Into the breakers and sinking.” Naturally he is frightened, and his howls are appalling. It Is a peculiarity of this bold mariner to Imagine that everything Is going to wreck when he happens to be seasick.