Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1900 — CURRENT COMMENT [ARTICLE]

CURRENT COMMENT

The arrival of President Kruger al Lourenzo Marquez apparently indicates the end of organized resistance on the part of the Boers. This conclusion seems to be confirmed by the dispatch from Captain Reichmann, the American military attache who accompanied the- Boera In their campaign. It does not-necessar-ily follow, however, that the invaders are going to find their success a wholly satisfactory one. The Boer armies have been overpowered and dispersed, the Transvaal republic has been obliterated from the map, the British government has taken over" the territory of Its late enemies. But eventually the inhabitants will have to be governed, and so far no one in authority in England has given an idea of the form of government that the British cabinet intends to set up In the two conquered states. As crown, colonies it may be possible to hold them in subjection for an indefinite length of time; but, aside from taxing the gold mines on the Rand, there will not be many practical methods or raising revenue to pay the colonial expenses, and 111 la not likely that the taxpayer at home will take very kindly to the suggestion that he must foot the bills for running two colonies 7,000 miles away. If the gold mines are heavily taxed their owners will be no better off thrfn they were under Oom Paul. If the Boer inhabitants are overtaxed they will be unable to pay and will either emigrate or rebel at the first opportunity, when Great Britain is in difficulties in Europe, India or China. These and many other questions that will demand a settlement now that Mr. Chamberlain’s ends have been gained will make the task of governing the Transvaal and the Orange Free State extremely embarrassing to the victors. The great value of the weather bureau and the remarkable correctness of its observations, ail things considered, have been demonstrated by recent events. It gave warning of the recent hurricane days before it manifested itself on the Texas coast. It anticipated its course from the vicinity of San Dom’ngo until it reached Cuban waters, where it made a deflection no human skill could have foreseen. The bureau was not caught napping, however. It sent out its hurricane signals both for the Atlantic coast and the gulf coast, and when the storm turned from the north of Cuba westward the bureau turned its attention to Texas, and nearly thirty-six hours before the disaster, warned the people of G iveston of its coming, mid during that day extended its signals all along the Texas coast. Perhaps si ill greater accuracy in forecasting was displayed by the bureau in the warnings given out to mariners on the great lakes. Though nearly all lines of communication in Texas were cut off, the bureau kept track of the storm ns it swept through Oklahoma into Kansas, and gave timely warning that it would turn northeast, moving across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, and thence across latke Michigan and the northern end of the southern peninsula of Michigan to Canada. In times gone by it has been the habit to jeer at Old Probabilities, and whenever a prediction failed of verification to condemn the weather bureau as unreliable and not worth the expense of Its maintenance. During the last few years, however, it* operators have gained in skill, and its record now is of a character of which Its officials have every reason to be proud and which seems to amply justify whatever expense it may entail by its great saving of life and property. Tn the latest government crop report wheat, corn and cotton are all recorded as showing a condition considerably below the average of the preceding ten years, and the effect upon the values of these commodities in the markets of thia country has been an appreciable advance. The condition of wheat at harvest, Including both winter and spring, is given as 69.6. This is more than eleven points below the average since 1890, which has been 80.9. Nevertheless, there is still a sufficient supply of wheat represented by these figures to insure ample flour for the nation’s daily bread, and there will even be a moderate surplus for foreigners who may be willing to pay a reasonable price for It. On the basis of four and onehalf bushels of wheat to each inhabitant, estimating the total population at 75,000,000 Rfrsons, the requirements of the United States would be 337,500,000 bushels. Allowing 50,000,000 bushels for next year’s seed, the amount needed to carry us through to another crop would be 387,500,000 bushels. Experts calculate that the government's figures and the known acreage harvested will result in a crop of about 485,000,000 bushels, so that we ahall have nearly 100,000,000 bushels of the crop of 1000 to sell to our foreign friends or to keep in our bins for another year. A few days ago one of the most destructive atorms of the century carried devastation along our southern coast. A great wave of desolation swept over Galveston and all the neighboring district, A wider district was ravaged than in the great storm on the English coast in 1703, and property immeasurably greater in value was destroyed. In twenty-four hours the machinery of relief had been organized and was effectively at work. The government, the railroads, the great Industrial establishments, citizens rich and poor joined in the common effort for rescue and relief. This is civilization. The English starling has come under ths same ban as that which rests on the English sparrow. The Department of Agriculture has issued an order prohibiting the importation of the starling and forbidding its transference from State to State within the Union.

The novel question whether counsel, in an argument to the jury, has a right to shed tears, has been decided by the Supreme Court of Tennessee in the case of Ferguson vs. Moon, the court holding that If the tears are available it is not proper but the duty of the counsel to shed them on the appropriate occasion. The weeping was done in a breach of promise case by the counsel for the plaintiff. Mrs. E. J. Miller, Sunbury, Pa., found a pearl worth more than SIOO In an oyster aftU at Attantlc City.