Indianapolis Journal, Volume 49, Number 124, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 May 1899 — Page 4

THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, THURSDAY, MAY 4, 18SD.

THE DAILY JOURNAL TISDAY, MAY 4, 1800. Wutlszton Office 1503 PcnnsjhanU Arenae Telephone CaIIh. Business OSlce ZA Editorial Rooms.. ....35 TERMS OP SUBSCRIPTION. DAILY BT MAIL. Dally enlr. one month I .70 Pally only, three month 2-W Daily only, one year Daily, including Sunday, one year 10. M Sunday only. one year 2-00 WHEN FURNISHED BT AGENTS. Dally, per week, by carrier 13 eta K-jnday. ?ln!e copy 5 cts Dally and Sunday, per week, by carrier 20 ct WEEKLY. Per year $1.00 Reduced Rate to Clubs. Subscribe? with any of orr numerous arenta cr end tubscripUcna to the JOURNAL NEWSPAPER COMPANY. Indianapolis Ind. Peraons sending the Journal through the malls In the United states should put oa an elfht-pase taper a ONE-CENT postage tump; on a twelve r sixteen-page paper a TVN'O-CENT postage stamp. Foreign postage la usually double these rate. 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.XDIAXAPOLIS JOURNAL Can be found at the following places: NEW YORK Astor House. CHICAGO Palmer House, P. O. News Co., 217 Dearborn street. Great Northern Hotel and Grand Pacific Hotel. CINCINNATI J. R. Hawley A Co., 154 Vine street. LOUISVILLE C. T. Deerlng, northwest corner of Third and Jefferson streets, and Louisville Bock Co., 4 Fourth, avenue. CT. LOUIS Union News Company, Union Depot WASHINGTON. D. C Rls House. Ebbltt House and Willard's Hotel. A wheat crop in the winter belt from 10 to 23 per cent, below an average la the only cheering prospect lor the political calamity-lte.

Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, has failed for England. If he exploits his Aunty" expansion view9 over there it Is to be hoped they will not be accepted as those of patriotic Americans. The number of Americans who believe that the Insurgents about Manila should not surrender without conditions is limited. There will be differences of opinion upon other matter, but that point is settled. .Rome people In this country who regard themselves as rather superior speak patronizingly of Prtsldent McKinley as "a good jnan but " rather weak." "When has he shown any weakness? The Spaniards think him a bad man and quite strong enough. The Filipino Junta In London should exercise more caution In lying. In declaring that they have a dispatch from Agulnaldo, tinder date of April 30, stating that the peace negotiations were not authorized by him, they overlooked the fact that telegraphic communication with him is cut off. One of the Filipino commissioners told General Otis that the people they represent desire a government like those of South American Stat est A succession of revolutions and Insurrections for the purpose of plunder is the thing which would prevail fn the Philippines if the United States ehould leave. The One-hundred-and-slxtleth and the Cme-hundred-and-sixty-flrst regiments returned home In excellent condition after their season In the South and Cuba. The very small l03S sustained and the sickness experienced was at the outset, but ' even these were minimized by the efficiency of their Goers. ' "I have , been a hewer, of wood and a drawer of water all my life for the Democratic party, and now I want to be Governor," is the remark of an Illinois Democrat. Like many others. It seems1 not to occur to that man that the Governor of a Ctata should be a man of high character and Intelligence and of experience in affairs. Aguinaldlst Atkinson says his seditious pamphlets were compiled from speeches in Congress, printed by the government as public documents. This only shows that come senators were as unpatriotic as Atkinson, but It Is no reason why their speeches, garbled for a base purpose, should be circulated among the soldiers In the Philippines. The act of the New York Legislature taxing franchises will fall heavily upon the etreet grabbing corporations of New York and Brooklyn. In the latter city it Is said that our once citizen and now eminent philanthropist and friend of the people, Hon. Tom I Johnson, had his charters so drawn that the only tax his company pays is the license of a drayman upon each car. Ths Important point In the anti-trust decltica of the United States Court of Appeals, in session in St. Louis, is the declaration that the State has entire control over such combinations within Its borders, through the Legislature and courts. Inside the States the federal government has no power over them. The United States can only take cognizance of trusts when they-affect commerce between the States. Agulnaldo. always at a safe distance from the firing line, Is ye ported as determined to fight the war to the defeat he foresees unless he la given three months to arrange the terms of peace. If the decision were left to the miserable wretches whom he forced to make feeble war and to the people whom he oppresses with a taxation many times greater than Spanish officials extorted, peaco would come at once. What is called tho Democratic victory in the Baltimore election la a victory of the Independent voter in municipal affairs. The Republicans have held the city several years, but of lato the management has not been satisfactory because of an alleged machine. The Democratic candidate is one of the gold variety and a well-known and highly respected man. No question of national politics entered into the canvass. And now Morocco Is to have the honor cf a visit from the Un'.ted States cruiser Chicago with a demand for the settlement cf some American claims against the Moorish government. It will not be the first time a United States war ship has visited Tan gier on a similar mission. In August, 1S03, Commodore Preble, commanding a squadron of seven United States men-of-war.

went to Tanglers and demanded an apology 1 frcm the Emperor of Morocco for certain acts which the Emperor promptly disclaimed and apologized for. The present Emperor will probably respond with equal alacrity. The testimony in the senatorial contest In ths Cistrict of which Madison county was a lzrc' portion showed that vote buying was rirrtrd ea extcr-rively hy both parCz. Vzlzzj it Lj ajrzrel that this

testimony was false, the offices in Madison county last fall were worth spending hundreds of dollars to win by the candidates of both parties or their backers and workers. Someone must have furnished the money, and it is fair to assume that it was furnished because It was expected that the candidates, if elected, would make enough out of the offices to pay it back. They had no right to count upon repeal of the present fee and salary law to recoup them for the money expended In vote traffic no right to count upon going deeper into the people's pockets to get money to enable them to violate the election laws.

CIVIL SERVICC ASD COLONIAL COVER3IENT. The last annual report of the Civil-service Commission is the first one in which any allusion has been made to the operation of the system in connection with newly-acquired territorial possessions. Heretofore It has only applied to domestic offices, mainly clerical appointments in the departments at Washington, in the postal service and In different government offices throughout the country. Its probable effect on the government of our new possessions opens up a new and Interesting field. The importance of making a right start in the government of these possessions cannot be overestimated. Colonial government is a new business for the United States, and while our experience In territorial government and in local government generally will stand us in good stead, there will be some difficult problems to solve. We are not yet in as close contact with these problems as we shall be later on. but It will probably, be found that the difficulties of civil government are fully as great as -those of military occupation. It is of great Importance, therefore, that we should establish right principles and lines of action at the beginning, and one of these should be recognition of the merit system in all appointments for the government of the new possessions. The merit system is the cornerstone of all good government. No matter what may be said against the rules or practice under the civil-service law, the merit principle, on which it rests, Is right. That appointments to and promotions In the public service should be based on merit and qualifications alone, ascertained by competitive examination or otherwise, Is now too well established and too generally admitted to need any argument. And If this principle applies to domestio appointments it applies with still more force to official appointments in newly-acquired possessions where the honor of the Nation Is pledged to establish good government. It would be a terrible mistake to make our new possessions a field for reviving the discarded political doctrine that "to the victors belong tho spoils." That has been the keynote of Spanish rule in Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines exploitation of the islands for official profit and plunder. The result was visible In failure long before the islands passed out of Spanish possession. The policy Is one that carries the seeds of inevitable failure under any circumstances. Colonial government can only succeed If based on the merit system. rhe recent report of the Civil-service Commission has an appendix containing an authentic account of different colonial governments. Summarizing the conclusions from this statement the report says: We will learn the following valuable lessons from a study of these governments: First That they are not disturbed by political changes in the home government, the tenure being determined by good and efficient service only. Second That the men sent to govern colonies are selected because of special fitness and are promoted generally from the smaller colonies to the larger, after demonstrating ability to deal with difficult problems. Third That the officers charged with the collection of revenue, both internal and customs duties, are promoted to those places after faithful and efficient service in minor grades, and are never appointed as a reward for political services at home; that the clerkships In the customs and other services are filled by open competitive examinations; that the pay is commensurate with the duties performed, and that persons in the colonial service are prohibited from engaging in business enterprises in the colonies. All who have made any study of the principles of civil-ervice reform or watched its operation in the public service of the United States will recognize the soundness of these conclusions In reference to colonial government. To make American government in our new possessions successful it must be as different as possible from Spanish government In every respect. In other words, it must be based on the merit system alone, with a complete Ignoring of the patronage and spoils systems. To quote further from the report: If the positions in our recently-acquired territory are given as a reward for political service at home, we may expect discontent, misrule and expensive administration. If, on the contrary, men are selected because of their ability as administrators, and the service is put upon a basis of ascertained fitness for the duties to be performed, and tenure and promotion are made dependent upon efficiency and honest service, then we may expect our administration to be a boon to these islands, and we will have cause to be proud of our share in supplanting the misrule of Spain with a government in accord with the aspirations of modern civilization. Unless these views are adopted and firmly adhered to we cannot expect to succeed in the experiment of colonial government on which we are about entering. WHY CHANGE A POLICY t Last September a conference of more or less learned and distinguished men was held In Saratoga to consider the questions growing out of our occupation of Cuba and the Philippines. Our troops were in Manila then as now, having captured that city Aug. 13, without the assistance of the insurgents. After being In session two or threo days that assemblage of intelligent and thinking men appended their signatures to the following resolution and sent it to the President: " We believe that the rescued and liberated people of the surrendered islands are in a sense temporarily the wards of the conquering nation, and that we should treat them as such. With our views of natural right and of the Inestimable privilege of civil liberty, we should not be Justified In returning the conquered islands to the misrule and oppression from which we have relieved them. As soon as the islands under our present protection can bo trusted to govern themselves they should be allowed) home rule, either Independently or as a part of the United States, as hereinafter recommended. Until such time as they may be able to govern themselves they should continue under the protection of the United States, and the question as to whether at some future period, at the mutual desire of both, they should be permanently annexed should be left to the time when it arises. Whether President McKinley obtained his views from the foregoing or not, is not known, but this much is certain: the policy which the President has pursued since our occupation of Manila and which was carried out in the treaty with Spain, harmonizes with these suggestions. When the conference adopted the resolution, but two or three men In it made any opposition. The cry of l nriallsm was raised some time after the declaration of the conference. Agulnaldo was pretending to be revolutionary president of the Philippines at that time. In other words, the situation has not changed except that the treaty was my tlated sloes the line of the declared Judg

ment of the Saratoga conference. It seems that two of the signers of the foregoing declaration participated In the antl-expan-slon meeting In Chicago last Sunday. What has occurred since the middle of September to change the policy which should be pursued toward the Philippines? Is a pretext found In the conduct of Agulnaldo? Have Intelligent men been caught by the phrase "consent of the governed" as applied to the autocracy which Agulnaldo has attempted to set up? On Saturday, Feb. 4. Agulnaldo Issued his proclamation of war, a part of which reads: "I order and command that peace and friendly relations be broken off with the Americans and that the latter be treated as enemies within the limits prescribed by the laws of war." Is there anything In the words quoted to cause men to change their opinions? Do we find fresh evidence of "the consent of the governed" being established In Luzon by Agulnaldo in his "I order and command?" Did It become the duty of the President to order our forces and ships to quit Luzon upon the appearance of Aguinaldo's declaration of war and his attack upon our forces the same night? TROUBLED ABOUT PROSPERITY.

Papers of the ultra Bryan, and Populist variety are beginning to be troubled about the good times. They seem to realize the force of the remark of Mayor Taggart last fall, that a Democratic victory cannot be expected as long as good times continue. Therefore they declare that the good times are deceptive that there will be no real prosperity until the United States perfects a vast silver-bullion trust by legislating" to stamp every 45 cents' worth of it one dollar. To them the outlook is not cheerful, and so they make it as cheerless as they can. Unfortunately for such cliques and newspapers, but fortunately for the country, the people know better. Most of them read newspapers, and when in one issue, as was the case on Monday, they read that 4,000 wage-earners in Cleveland had their wages advanced from 5 to 20 per cent, that 15,000 iron workers in Birmingham, without solicitation, were given an advance of from 10 to 15 per cent, and that advances werennounced in Reading, Pa., Springfield. O., and other places, most people will come to the conclusion that prosperity of the substantial sort has come very generally. One of these papers declares that the prosperity is artificial, having been manipulated by Senator Hanna for political purposes. He Is the bold, bad man who is inciting employers in extensive industries all over the country to increase wages and to make it appear that there Is an unprecedented demand for all the staples of the country. Thereat they invent some new story designed to show the depravity of the man. The Journal Is not an admirer of Senator Hanna. Doubtless he does not care a fig, but the Journal has never taken to him. For that reason and others we would warn the agitated Bryan-Populist editor that he may overdo the Hanna talk. There Is more labor seeking men to perform it than there has ever been in the country before. Workers are getting millions more as wages each week than they did three years ago. Never before did two-thirds of a million of men have their wages Increased without asking. Now, if all these people whose condition has been improved by the better times should be persuaded by the Bryan-Populist editors that Senator Hanna has brought it about he would be the most popular man in the land. He could have anything he desired at the hands of those people. What Mf they should make Senator Hanna a popular idci? Dreadful thought! A law recently enacted by the New York Legislature taxing corporations and franchises In New York city is expected to yield a large revenue, to the relief of real estate and other property. The passage of the law was due to a growing feeling of discontent among real-estate owners and other taxpayers because corporations enjoying valuablo franchises paid so little. Ex-Governor Flower, himself largely interested In local corporations, expresses approval of the principle of the law. In a published interview he says: While I do not favor the Ford bill in all Its provisions, I have for many years advocated the introduction of a measure in the Legislature compelling corporations holding valuable franchises from the city and State to pay taxes proportionate to the value of their real estate. The Ford bill is a step in the right direction, and I believe that it will ultimately result in legislation greatly to the advantage of the general public. Let the large street-railway companies and other corporations holding charters in this city be assessed from 3 to 5 per cent of their gross earnings, and In one hundred years the private owners of real estate will not be paying any taxes. It is absolutely essential that the tax should be figured on the gross earnings of the corporations, as, if the net earnings were used as a basis, the accounts of the various corporate companies in this city would be so arranged as to show a very small margin of profit. The tendency of future legislation Is likely to be in the direction of requiring corporations enjoying public franchises to pay something like their Just share of taxation a thing they have not yet done anywhere. The Topeka Capital prints a letter from Colonel Funston. dated March 17, In which, after commenting on the splendid fighting qualities of his regiment and speaking tenderly of the losses, he says: I am afraid that some people at home will He awake nights worrying about the ethics of this war, thinking that our enemy is fighting for the right of self-government, etc. The word "Independence," which these people roll over their tongues so lightly, is to them a word and not much more. It means simply with them license to raise hell, and if they got control they would raise a fine crop of it It Is true that they have a certain number of educated leaders educated, however, about the same way a parrot is. They are. as a rule, an Illiterate, semi-savage people, who are waging war not against tyranny, but against AngloSaxon order and decency. Their whole conduct during the several months preceding the outbreak was one of insufferable arrogance and egotism. They were swollen up by the fact that our people made too much of them at first I, for one. hope that Uncle Sam will apply the chastening rod good, hard and plenty and lay It on until they come into the reservation and promise to be good "Injuns." MAY MAGAZINES. A portrait of Governor Roosevelt in McClure's Magazine represents blm as a con slderably older and less genial man than the innumerable "Rough Rider" pictures of the dally and weekly press have made him. The best cooks and trained housekeepers contribute of their lore to "What to Eat," and their offerings are illustrated In so artistic a way that the maga.. zine becomes attractive to many readers who would ordinarily take no interest in culinary literature. "What to Eat" helps to give cookery a place among the fine arts. Few readers of F. Hopklnson Smith's story of his stay at Dort, in Scribner's Magazine for May, but will wish to visit that Holland town. There is some reason to suspect, however, that the artist-novelist Bees charms in the place that would not all be visible to the average visitor. Tho illustrations are by the author. In the May Critic is published the first of a series of heretofore uncollected humorous sketches and original drawings by W. M. Thackeray. As an artist he cannot b3 called great, but he did succeed in conveying his ideas with much clearness. An illcstrated article on "Aubrey Beardsley's tran;e Art" is a feature of the number.

A portrait of Beardsley forms the frontispiece of the number. Among other portraits is that of Frank Norris. the talented young author of "McTeague." He is very youthful and rather unliterary looking. In Self-Culture for May 13 an essay by Mrs. Carina B. C. Eaglesfield on "Country Life as a Factor In Character Development." Another Indianapolis contributor to this excellent magazine Is Minor MorrisM. D., who writes of "Brain and Brawn." Curiously enough, he touches incidentally on the theme treated by Mrs. Eaglesfield. He says: "It is almost a rule that great intellects arise In obscurity, and as we scan the fields of literature, art and science we observe how closely to nature these great, minds lived and worked. Shakspeare, Goethe. Beethoven, Wordswdtth all were in sympathetic communion with the source of all that is best and beautiful in life. Huxley every year sought the solitude of the Alps for companionship with nature, while Darwin lived exclusively In the fields." The pathos of President Lincoln's life comes out strongly in the letters published In McClure's Magazine, and gathered by Miss Tarbell from various sources, mainly the unpublished records of the War Department. The difficulty of finding a general for the army who would fight is the main theme or undercurrent of these letters, but glimpses of the cares laid upon him through the complications of the civil service are shown in such letters as the following, addressed to Governor Morton of Indiana, in 1SR2: "Your dispatch of to-day Is Just received. I have no recollection of either John R. Cravens or Cyrus M. Allen having been named to me for appointment under the tax law. The latter particularly has been my friend, and I am sorry to learn that he is not yours. No appointment has been or will be made by me for the purpose of stabbing you." Universal Brotherhood, "a magazine devoted to the brotherhood of humanity, the theosophlcal movement, philosophy, science and art," is one of the periodicals from whose pages the uninitiated and worldly reader gleans little enlightenment Its contributors treat of themes which to him are Incomprehensible. This inability to make plain their lideas seems to be comprehended by the writers if thi3 plaint from the current number may be taken as an indication: "Oh, for a power to read and write in the language of color-form symbols as of old! Oh, that we were sufficiently awake 'through pity enlightened' to have done with cold type for the exchange and transmission of soul-truths and realities, and that we had instead a beautiful soul-picture-language that would leap and run like fire among us whenever beheld in its every varying transformations and combinations!" Governor Roosevelt's dory of the Santiago campaign now running in Scribner's Magazine makes very good reading. In addition to an account of the fighting he tells a good many anecdotes of which this Is a specimen: "One day we were visited by a traveling Russian, Prince X., a large, blond man, smooth and Impenetrable. I introduced him to one of the regular army officers, a capital fighter and an excellent fellow, who. however, viewed foreign international politics from a strictly transmlsEissippi standpoint. He hailed the Russian with frank kindness and took him off to show him around the trenches, chatting volubly, and calling him 'Prince much as Kentucklans call one another 'Colonel.' As I returned I heard him remarking: 'You see. Prince, the great result of this war Is that it has united the two branches of the Anglo-Sixon people: and now that thev are together they can whip the world. Prince! they can whip the world!' being evidentir filled with the pleasing belief that the Russian would cordially sympathize with this view." Everybody must have felt at times the unreasonableness of the social rule forbidding shop-talk and requiring each individual to select subjects for conversation as far removed as possible from his dally occupation In other words, to avoid talking on the theme they understand best, and on which they might discourse to edification. The rule, as most social regulations are. is doubtless based on the sound general principle that a man who talks about his own business is in danger of becoming a bore, but there Is also the danger that he may be a bore if he talks of things he doesn't know. A writer In the current International Magazine (Chicago) touches on this point and makes this sensible modification of the Injunction: "I would change It to never talk technic. Who can more ably or Interestingly discuss music than kthe musician, only omit his list of pupils, his favorite method? Who 'cart speak so' delightfully of child-life or the development of the human mind as the teacher, If only the schoolroom technic be omitted? The world cares nothing for how, why, when or where we do our work, but the world Is Interested not so much in the work, perhaps, as in its results." In a recent number of the Open Court (Chicago) was an article written by one A. H. Heinemann on "The Indian Question," In which considerable attention was given to the mismanagement of the affairs of the red men by the government. The current issue of the Open Court contains this paragraph: "Dr. W. L Kallmann, the late superlntendent'of Indian schools (under Cleveland), 'writes concerning the article by Mr. Heinemann that it Is most instructive, true to the core and will do much to clear the atmosphere adding: 'I do not, however, think it quite severe enough on the political corruption which poisons every phase of the work and 'on the lack of conscience disf)layed on 'the part of secretaries of the nterior, senators, representatives and local party bosses. But all the statements made by Mr. Heinemann are good and true and thorough. Dr.." erstwhile Professor, Hailmann was national superintendent of Indian schools for four years and was a candidate for reappointment. During that time the Journal does not recall that his voice was ever raised in faintest protest against the corruption and lack of conscience now mentioned. Can it be that his eyes were only opened after he was out of office? A great many things have been written about Admiral Dewey within tjae last year, but people are not yet tired of reading about him, and the chapter of anecdotes told by Oscar King Davis In the May number of McClure's have the merit of freshness and of throwing a new light on the famous officer. Even the personal description gives a different idea of him from the one already held. Mr. King says: "Many pictures of Admiral Dewey have been published In the last few months, but very few of then show much of the man as he Is. Most of them show a long, narrow face, with high, slightly receding forehead and Roman nose. As a matter of fact, there is more breadth, and less length to the fate than these pictures show. It is a square face, and its most prominent feature is the rugged underjaw. The eyes are wide apart and set well back under heavy brows. The forehead is high, broad and bold. The nose is large, and the mouth generous, but firm. Most of his pictures show more of a mustache than the admiral wore last summer. Mustache and hair are almost white. The complexion is dark, as are the eyes. He is not a big man physically, but he Is astonishingly quick In his actions. His shoulders are so square and his broad back !s so straight that many a man much his Junior mlsrht envy him them. His step is quick and springy: his whole bearing Is one of alertness and readiness. His mental process Is lUhtnlng-like." The article Is well worth reading. BtnDLES IN THE AIR.

This Late Spring. Sparrow Ah! The first robin, 1 presume? Robin Me? No. You don't see any chilblains on me, do you? Explicit. New Arrival Have you a Sunday liquor law here? Citizen No. We have a no-Sunday-liquor law. Early Indications. "And when we became engaged, all he did was to kiss my hand." "Yes, I've heard his mother say he was the kind of a boy who would make one piece of candy last hlra a week." Cruelty. "And by the way, brother," asked the minister whs had been called in to smooth the pathway of the expiring rlor.eer, "were all those bear stories the truth?" The old man opened his eyes. "Parson." said he, "that's a mighty mean advantage to take of a dyin man." Selfish Aaalnaldo. Kansas City Journal. In making overtures of surrender Agulnaldo shows a greater regard for his own safety than for tho success of Mr. Bryan's presidential ambitions. This exhibition of polnshness Is most distressing, even in a semi-savage, and if traced to Its origin would doubtless be found to be tho work of tho splke-talled money devil.

MUST PAY FOR STAMPS

SO LAW TO RELIEVE IXXOCENT PURCHASERS OF JACODS'S CIGARS. People Who Bought Goods from the Counterfeiters 31 net Look to Congress for Relief. NEW MINISTER TO PERSIA HERBERT IV. BOWE.X, LATE CONSUL TO BARCELONA. Jullua G. Lay to Fill the Latter Place Stanton Sickles to Be Legation Secretary at Madrid. WASHINGTON, May 3.-A large holder of cigars purchased from Jacobs & Kendlg, and bearing counterfeit stamps, made personal application to the commissioner of Internal revenue to-day to modify conditions contained In his recent circular letter requiring innocent holders of these cigars to pay the tax before releasing the same from the seizure, on the ground that the government was for quite a period of time aware of the existence of these counterfeit stamps and their use before the guilty parties were arrested and their factories seized. The commissioner admitted that the relief thus claimed was based upon strong equitable grounds, and said that he would grant it if it was in his power to do so, but that the law providing for the forfeiture of these cigars left him no course open but that of accepting a compromise which should at least Include the payment of the tax by the holders of the cigars. He suggested that these claims appeared to be so strongly grounded on equity, however, that it would seem but just and proper that the holders of these cigars should be allowed to file claims for the refund of the tax they are required to pay, with the view that these claims should be called to the attention of Congress, through the secretary of the treasury, with a full statement of all the facts, and that such legislation should be recommended as would authorize the commissioner to refund and pay back the taxes which should be exacted from these innocent holders of the Jacobs-Kendlg cigars. Acting Secretary of War Meikeljohn, in response to an inquiry, made the announcement to-day that the capitation tax Imposed by the laws and regulations issued by the Treasury Department Aug. IS, 1X8, and which tax Is imposed at all ports of entry upon emigrants coming to the United States, equally applies to all emigrants applying for entry at ports of Cuba, Porto Klco and the Philippines. The assistant controller of the treasury has rendered a decision in which he holds that an engineer officer of the army performing duties within his own district, whatever the size of that district, should not apply for travel pay at the regular rate of 7 cents per mile, but that he should apply merely for payment of actual expenses Incurred. The President In the case of John D. Magner, sentenced in Colorado in 1S97 to five years' Imprisonment for having counterfeit silver coins in his possession, has commuted the sentence to two years In view of the assistance given the government by Magner's wife in bringing the principal offender to Justice. In the case of Charles C. Moore, convicted in Cincinnati in lsyi and sentenced to two years in prison, the President has commuted to six months. Moore was the editor of the Bluegrass Blade, of Lexington, Ky., and his ottense was publishing and sending obscene literature through the mails. In the case of W. J. F. Thompson, convicted in Geargia in 1&6 of conspiracy and sentenced to five years in prison, the President has granted a full pardon, as Thompson Is said to be dying from consumption. The industrial commission resumed Its public hearing In its headquarters at the Bliss building to-day. The first witness was Florence Kelly, for four years chief factory inspector of Illinois. Her statement dealt particularly with sweat shops in Chicago. She painted the picture in dark colors. Of the 2U0.OX) factory workers in Illinois, she said, 130.0W were in Cook county. Practically all the ready-made clothing and much of the so-called merchant tailor work of the city was sweat shop work pure and simple. The conditions surrounding the works were unsanitary and harmful in a marked degree. Child labor, she said, was also used in direct defiance of the fourteenyear age limit in force in the State. She said the employers had no difficulty in evading this law and securing age certificates for the children. Many of thee little ones, she declared, worked for the first year for nothing, with the promise of a dollar a week at the end of that time, and ultimately, perhap?, ti to $4 per week when they had reached the top of the ladder in their line. She strongly advocated the passage of a law similar in its general provisions to the Sulzer act now in force in New York. The commission has received word from Chief Counsel Dodd. of the Standard Oil Company, assuring them that John D. Rockefeller and others of the company will be pleased to comply with the commission s request to appear, in Washington between the 15th and 20th of May. The President has appointed Herbert W. Bowen, of New York, as minister to Persia. Mr. Bowen was consul general to Barcelona before the Spanish war broke out Julius G. Lay, now consul at Windsor, Ont, has been appointed consul general at Barcelona, to succeed Mr. Brown. Stanley Turner, of Detroit, has been selected as United States consul at Windsor. Ontario, to succeed Mr. Lay. Mr. Lay receives a substantial promotion, his new post paying a .salary of $3,00") per annum, with fees, or more than double the compensation of his present position. Stanton Sickles, of New York, has been appointed secretary of the United States legation at Madrid, and will Join Minister Storer at that place as soon as the legation is reopened. Mr. Sickles is a son of General Daniel Sicklesformerly minister to Spain, and held the same position to which he is now appointed when Mr. Woodford was minister there. Archbishop Kane, whose departure from Rome, for America, was recently announced, is expected in Washington before long. He will make his headquarters here, either at the Catholic University or at St. Patrick's Church, and will go on extensive lecturing tours through the country for the purpose of raising funds for the university. The archbishop was so long and favorably associated with the university as its rector that his appeals in its behalf are always productive of substantial results. There is no present purpose to erect new buildings, but to thoroughly endow those already erected. The large dormitory building has been named Keane Hall, in honor of Archbishop Keane. Two other buildings will be completed in the fall. That of the Holy Cros order will bring about forty additional members of that society to the university. The monastery of the Franciscan fathers will be occupied in September by this ancient order. The university commencement begins on June 7, when It is expected that President McKinley and Cardinal Gibbon.and. possibly. Archbishop Keane may be present To-day's statement of the condition of the treasury shows available cash balance, $2l,5o5.V.i; gold reserve, $24;. 411,721. The following is the order of the War Department allowing foreign bottoms to engage In POrto Rlcan trade with this country, formerly limited to American vessels under the coastwise laws: "By direction of the President, Paragraph 2. Page 7, of the amended customs tariff and regulations for ports in Porto Rico," is hereby temporarily amended so as to permit all vessels, whether foreign or American to load or clear for the United States. This order will be duly proclaimed and enforced In the Island of Porto Rico." Especial attention is called to the fact that this Is a temporary order and may be revoked If It does not prove satisfactory. Bally & Kennus, of Henderson, Ky., were the only bidders upon proposals which were

opened to-day for the completion of the stone retaining wall on the north side of the marine hospital grounds at Evansville, Ind. The firm offers to complete the proposed work within ninety days for $3,45$. The following residents of Indiana have been admitted to practice before the . Interior Department: Nathaniel L Daniel. Booneville: Miles Grecian. Flat Rock; Louis I. Ahlering. EVansville; Henry C Jordan, Indianapolis. John G. Momon, of Greenfield, and B. J. Atkinson, of Van Euren. were to-day appointed railway mail clerks. Dr. W. H. Williams has been appointed an examining surgeon for the Pension Bureau at Fowler, Ind. Representative Henderson, of Iowa, had a half hour's consultation with the President to-day regarding the work of the RepubMcan caucus committee of the House of Representatives at Atlantic City. Ho explained to the President at length the currency reform plan which the committee unanimously decided to recommend to the Republicans of the next House. Minister Loomls has Informed the Department of State that he was requested by the minister of foreign affairs, of Venezuela, to Inform the department that It Is the earnest desire of his government to confer on Admiral Sampson and the commanding officers of the North Atlantic squadron, who recently visited Laguayra with him. and also Commander C. C. Todd, of the Wilmington, the decoration of the Order of Bolivar. The Venezuelan government, in this way, desires to express its cordial appreciation- of the friendly disposition evinced by the visit of Admiral Sampson and the squadron under his command. The first regular census examinations for appointments under the twelfth census were held hero to-day. Twenty-two applicants remained through the ordeal. These examinations. Director Merriam wishes to emphasize, will precede all ordinary appointments and not for a considerable period will any number of appointments be made. Applications already filed are sufficient to fill all positions. Senator Thurston and Representative Mercler, of Nebraska, and Mr. W. A. Hunln, correspondent of the Omaha Bee, to-day called upon the President and invited him to visit the Greater American Expesition at Omaha between July 1 and Sept. 1. The President spoke pleasantly of his recollections of his trip to Omaha last fall, and said if he could arrange to stop at Omaha on his Western trip this summer It would give him pleasure to do so. Before the departure of the cruiser Chicago yesterday from Punta Deicada. Acting Secretary Allen sent instructions, to Rear Admiral Howison directing him to proceed to Tanglers, Morocco. The United States has several small claims against the Moorish government, the result of the looting of stores owned by Americans and of outrages committed upon Moorish agents of American houses, who, under the treaty between the two governments, are under American protection. The authorities are confident that the moral effect of the appearance of the Chicago, with a flag officer on board, at Tanglers. will be excellent, and will hasten the settlement ofr the claims. Rear Admiral Howison will consult with the American consul general at Tanglers. No attempt will be made at forcible coercion, but the Moorish officials will doubtless appreciate the reason for the Chicago's call, and will probably act promptlj. There is reason to believe that the administration proposes to use the Pears case and the Blueflelds Incident to create respect for the United States In Honduras and Nicaragua, While it Is assumed that the governments .of Honduras and Nicaragua wish to act .correctly, their subordinates have been guilty of petty persecutions of American citizens which, in many instances, cannot be made a subject of official complaint. The State Department is, therefore, determined to bring Honduras and Nicaragua to account. With this objeot In view, the proposition of the Honduras government that the Pears i case be referred to arbitration has been rejected, and Minister Hunter has been instructed to press an immediate settlement. Should the $10,000 Indemnity demanded be not forthcoming within a reasonable time, a "squadron will be ordered to Honduras to enforce the payment. On the part of the Navy Department, a cause of complaint against Nicaragua arises out of the failure to get two cablegrams to Commander Dayton, commanding the Detroit, now at Blueflelds. THE TOET OP OI R C03IMOX LIFE. Graccfnl Tribute by W. D. HoivelUto James Whltconib Riley. North American Review. Foremost of our poets who have spoken to and for the day which is not yet yesterday, 1 should say was James Whltcomb Riley, who has known how to endear himself to a wider range of American humanity than any other American poet. If his popularity were the sole proof of the enduring love of poetry among us it would be no weak proof. It might not imply that poetry generally was so much read as it once was, but it would imply that poetry of exquisite loveliness in whatever guise It wore had come home to the common heart as It had not before. Probably the most widely read American poems In their time were Longfellow's Hiawatha" and Whittier's "Snowbound;" but Mr. Riley's poetry is much, more widely read than either. It reaches the lettered as well as the unlettered; it has had the courage of the familiar, the homely, qualities which are the most widely felt, and it Is not because it is American (although we like it so), but because It is human that it finds its way over the fruitful levels where men are all equal. I do not firlze It less than the new English poetry n form or spirit, 'for I think Mr. Riley a very great artist, with insight as subtle as the best of the new English poets, and sympathy as generous. .The Hoosier parlance which he has subdued to rhyme has not the consecration which time has given the Scottish dialect In Ramsay and Burns, but it says things as tenderly and as intimately, and on the Hps of this master it is music. If he is above all others the American poet, his primacy Is significant of a more entire liberation to our native genius than we have yet realized; at the least and lowest here is a poet who could have come in no other time or place than ours; and quite so much could not have been said of any American poet before. One feels this not only in his Hoosier verse, but In his poems in literary English; he is still essentially the poet of our common life: and perhaps hereafter the soul of that life may be divined best, in its sweetness and sincerity and purity, in the verse which is of such friendly familiarity that some may not yet prize it aright Utility of Wireless Telegraphy. North American Review. Lastly, one or two words must be said as to the immediate future of the invention. There is no question that for communication between ships at sea between lightships and lighthouses and the shore, and between ships and coast guard stations there is a wide field of utility open to it at once. It will economically replace short submarine cables in a few Instances, or, perhaps, be supplementary to them in case of breakdown. It will enable communication to be cheaply established to Islands and places where the traffic is not great enough to carry the expense of a submarine cable, and it will, without doubt, be adopted in some form In naval and military operations. It will never replace entirely telegraphy with wires, because the use of the continuous wire secures a privacy not otherwise to be obtanied. From one point of view, the difference between wireless telegraphy and telegraphy with wires is the same as the difference between a postcard, or open letter, and a sealed one. The continuous wire Is like the envelope of the letter. It prevents the diffusion of the information beyond certain limits. The future, however, will slowly unroll the scope and limitations of this new telegraphy. Its practical uses are Indubitable, but it has a widtr interest from a scientific standpoint, in that it opens up a vista of fascinating speculation as to the possible revelations in store for us concerning the powers an potencies of this mysterious ether. Hone of the Revolution. Detroit Tribune. Of all the vanities of human nature pride of ancestry is perhaps the least harmful. In order to be consistent the man who points backward to a distinguished ancestor ought to so govern himself that posterity may, with equal pride, look back to him. The Sons of the American Revolution represent something quite apart from snobbery. They acknowledge a pride in their descent from the plain farmers, tradesmen, merchants and pioneers who were the bulwarks of the new republic. None of them were of ioyal line. They were good, honest homenpun and fustian, yet each man who braved the hangman's rope as well as the bullets of British. Hessian and Indian foes was every inch a king, although his domain may have been but a poor homestead. Such ancestors deserve well of posterity. The perpetuation of their memory and the deeds which laid the foundations of this government is the worthy aim of this distinguished society. Such a distinctively American institution ought to be a renter of patriotism while the order lasts. It is h lineage more honorable than that stereotyped boast of the Briton, that his ancestor came over in the robber band of William the Conqueror, and it ought to be perpetuated with becoming pride

WASHINGTON INCIDENTS

STORIES AXD GOSSIP ABOUT PERSONS A.D PIBLIC AFFAIRS. When Ben Perley Toore Was Youngs The Flaar on the White House Applicant for Census Bureau Jobs Correspcndeaee of the Indianapolis Journal. WASHINGTON. May 3.-A Georgia newspaper man told the following to a party of newsgatherers on the Row the other night: "Ben: Perley Poore, who used to rustle around these corners hunting up news an t who was not Infrequently seen down on Twelfth street at the place where the oldtimers say the best fluid could be found, and which was called by the Bohemians the Broken Shutter, did his first newspaper work in my State. Weil, It is a fact. His father sent him from Massachusetts to Georgia to grow up with the country. Young Poore settled in Athens, the aristocratic and wealthy little city where the State University Is located. At first the young man was admitted to the most exclusive society, and, being a man of education and refinement, he coon became popular. He was getting along swimmingly until he began to exhibit his abolition ideas both in his everyday conversation and In the columns of the Southern Whig, which he had bought soon after his arrival. Worst of all, he mixed and mingled with negroes, even going so far as to entertain them at his home. This was too much, and I speak the truth when I say that Poore came near playing the star part in a tar and feather entertainment To be brief, Poore decided that the climate was getting too warm for him, and' he dxiftel back in this direction. He was a peculiar man. Once he rolled a man in a wheelbarrow from Newburyport to Boston la payment of a wager he had lost on Fillmore's election. He made a good librarian of congress, and did some clever work in this city as a newspaper correspondent. I am satisfied Poore realized the grave mistake he had made while in Georgia, for I understand he never permitted himself to talk about his brief stay there." Senator Quay must have faith in premonitions. A short time after Harrison's election, and when the senator was talked of for a Cabinet position, he said to a newspaper man: "Such an honor is not for me. Within a few years there will be nothing too vile for leaders of the party to say about me nothing too infamous to charge me with. It has been the history of the Republican party that the men who assist In success receive In the end only abuse and contumely, and that, 1 feel, will be my lot, too." A guardian at the White House, who is pretty well up on affairs of all kinds, made the following remarks: "There are some people densely ignorant, and you can't imagine how often we are jumped on by some one who thinks he knows It all and that we are a lot of blockheads standing around as ornaments and simply to draw a salary. I have people to want to know of me why we do not lower at half-mast the nag wnich noata over the White House when public rflen die. That flag represents the Presiden of the United States and nobody else, and ehould not fcn lowered except la the event of his death. When Chief Justice Miller died Mr. Cleveland had the flag lowered, and people who knew the true Cso of the flag thougnt the President was dead. One of our men attempted to enlighten Mr, Cleveland on the subject when the order was Issued, but he came near getting tired by the President who gave it out straight from the shoulder that he knew all about what the flag was there for. Mr. Cleveland was never open to conviction, but exercised his authority as boss of the ranch regardless of usuages and laws." "There is a portion of the inner history of the Hampton Roads conference which, I do net think, has ever been published," said a Southern man who figured prominently in the civil war. "As Is known. Jefferson Davis opposed a conference with the Federals, and believed to the lest moment that the Confederate States would be recognized by European powers. Our army had been reduced to a mere shell, with neither defenses, refuge, nor supplies to fall back upon, and the peace commission was appointed by the Confederate Senate to act under instruction from Mr. Davis, the President The conference convened and, after all preliminaries were arranged. President Lincoln said that, so anxious was he for peace, that he was willing to offer terms entirely broad and liberal. '1 am willing. said Mr. Lincoln, 'to write but one word on a sheet of paper and will leave every other condition and requirement to your judgment. All other terms may be of your own dictation. Taking the paper Mr. Lincoln wrote the word 'union end handed the paper to Alex. Stephens. Acting under instruction from President Davis, who wanted recognition of the Confederate States, this magnanimous offer could not be accepted, though it would have given to us peace, preserved our fortunes, gained recompense for our slaves and property, and all the fearful consequences which followed defeat wouJd have been averted. When President Uncoln's offer was rejected his disappointment was great, and Mr. Stephens often told me he showed it plainly, but he only said, I am sorry, gentlemen Mr. Davis wanted annihilation, and you know what he got The declination of Mr. Lincoln's offer was the greatest mistake ever made for the South." Chief Clerk Chllds, of the Census Office, In an interview, says of applicants for positions in that department: "I see no reason why we should turn the Census Office into a private banking concern to furnish pocket money for people who do not need It, when it might go to soma family supporter who needs it for the necessities of life. A large number of female applicants want tho position for pocket money." It is a truth beyond dispute that there are thousands of women in government service in Washington who are not entitled to the places nor neither are they in need of them. Daughters of wealthy men ca'i t found In each ar.d every one of the several departments, and the money paid them Is used. In most cases. In dressing fine and having a high time. How many of them get these positions can only be satisfactorily explained by Fome of the impressionable senators and representatives. A poor, but deserving widow or orphan girl, has little chance for a government position unless she is above the average in the looks and below the average In chastity. That is plain talk, but it is true. Of course there are exceptions. It Is against the law for both husband and wife to hold departmental positions at the same time, but this law Is openly violated in every department, and cases are not infrequent where husband, wife, daughters and son; the entire family are on the pay rolls of the icovernment while others more deserving are forced to live on hope the aroma from the flowers in Uncle Sam's parks and the notes from the Marine Band at the evening concerts at the White House lot. There should be an enforcement of the law which would give a Just and equal apportionment of the offices. Washington has more than three hundred public parks and spaces and they cover" an area cf more than four hundred acres. The last Congress appropriated J20.000 for the care, maintenance and Improvement of these public reservations, and many of them are already In full spring dress, adding their beauty to the splendid buildings, avenues and streeis. which make Washington the most beautiful city In America. Mre than Suu.iXrt plants are now ready in the propagating gardens for planting in the parks for summer ornamentation. This Is about Uk,Cm In txcess of the mock for lat year, iniblic Landscape Gardener George H. Brown had over bulbs of many varieties planted in the late autumn month last year for early bloom and these are now in their full bloom In the parks. These will soon be removed and other les hardy plants put In their places. Among the thousands of flowers there are many new varieties, and the superintendent believes tht he has some of the prettiest and rarer.t flowers ever seen in the United States. The craze and fashion for flowers changes often, and many that were very popular a few years &ko are not wanted now. Nearly - much money is appropriated for the White House conservatories and grounds as for the public parks and reservations. The most elaborate banquet ever served at Welckers was the one glven'by General Grant at the tin; a cf t-3 CMntrj treat;-. .