THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 26, 1900.
WSiAT HAPPENED DURING THEL TEAR
QOQ-
C
rr
NEW PILOTS AT THE WHEEL
WHO HAVE ARRIVED IN 1909
President of the United Stafra: WILLIAM H. TAFT foiiowrie Tlieo. Roosevelt.
Sultan of Turkey: MOIIAMMKD V succeeding Abdul Hamid IB.
Shah of Persia: AHMED MIRZA succeeding Mohanied All. I
Preldont of Brazil: NILS PKCANHA succeeding Alfonso Penrl.
President of Venezuela: VICENTE GOMEZ succeeding, Cipris k Castro. j
President of Columbia: RAMON' VALENCIA succeeding Rafae 1 Reyos.
President of Costa Ri(a: lilCHASDO JIMINEZ succeeding Q tales Vlqnez.
Chancellor of Germany: BETHMAN-HOLLWEG succeeding i-ilnce von Buelow.
premier of France: AK1KT1DE BRIAND succeeding Georges Clemcnceau.
Premier of s-ipain: SHIISMUNDO MOP.ET succeeding Antonio Maura.
Premier of iit.cne: MIVKO MICHAELS succeeding M. Rhailu.
Viceroy of torea: VISCOUNT SONE succeeding Prince Hlrobaml I:o.
i:. S. Secretary of Stata: PHILANDER C. KNOX succeeding Elttm Root.
V. S. Secretary of Treasury: FRANKLIN JIa;VEAGU succeeding Cortelyou.
I". S. Secretry o.f War: J. M. DICKINSON succeeding Luke E. Wright.
I", t;'. A ttorney-G-eneral : Q. w. WICKERS HAM succeeding c. J. Bonaparte.
1.'. S. Postmuslor-General: F. H. HITCHCOCK succeeding S. von L. Meyer.
V. S Secretary of Interior: JR. A. BALL1NGER succeeding J. R. Garfield.
r. s. bcretary of Commerce: CHARLES NAGEL succeeding Oscar Straus. '
i:r.ited States Treasurer: LEE M'CLL'NG succeeding Charles H. Treat.
Governor of Minnesota: A. O. EBERHART succeeding J. A. Johnson.
Governor of Georgia: JOSEPH M. BROWN succeeding Hoke Smith.
Governor or New Mexico: WILLIAM J. MILLS succeeding George Curry.
Governor of Porto Rico: GKORGE D. COLTON succeeding Regis H. Poet.
Governor of the Philippines: CAMERON FORBES succeeding Gen. Jas. Smith.
Governor of Alaska: WALTER CLARK sueecdlng Wllford Hoggat;
Director of the Census: E. DANA DURAND succeeding S. N. D. North.
Not yet "at the wheel. but surely far from least, thongh nientlored last, is the
baby heiress to the throne of The Netherlands, who arrived on tfie scene the last
day of April JULIANA LOUISE EMMA MARIE WILHELMINAR
BT .WARWICK JAMES PRICE.
IS 1009 to bo known to history as cuch
another "Wonderful Year" as 181S?
13 It to go down in the chronicles of
time as a twelve-month of upheaval and
revolt? It was ushered in with Servia
and Austria growling at each other
across a jealous border, with the new
regime in tar away China making an
unpromising beginning in power by ban
ishing Yuan Shai Kai, whom the Occi
dent held as her most progressive man,
and it went out with Nicaragua mis
behaving far beyond even the usual, and
with such a political revolution in Eng
land as portends such a constitutional
struggle between classes and masses as
the tight little Island has not seen since
Reform's stormy days of 'S3. And there
was unrest written large all between.
Actual war had redly marked several
of the months, even if the much-talked-of
Anglo-German conflict has failed to
materialize. In April, close following the
settlements, by which a dollar-and-cents
return was made to Turkey by Austria
and Russia for the loss of her provinces
of Bomla, Hertzgovina and Bulgaria.
Constantinople, for a sixth time in her
troubled history, was again made the
scene of siege and capture. In a last
and characteristic attempt to oust his
Young Turk rulers from their recently
r won power. Abdul Hamid, tricky to the
end, stirred the city garrison to revolt.
The move but swung the wheel full
circle, however; Enver Bey and his fel
lows swept the narrow streets of rebels
and the throne of a word-breaking mon
arch "a biting dog for nearly four
score years of cowardly rule." , Quite
400 lives were demanded by the fight
ing and the executions, which followed,
and not less than ten times as many
had been violently closed in the Armen
ian massacres, centering about Adana,
which accompanied the outbreak.
A month lHter came a rupture between
Spain and Morocco, which. In toe half
year which has followed, has brought
Mars ridinst rough-shod through the Riff
country 11 lis and valleys, where, in view
nf the Franco-German pact of February,
Hie world had forseon only peace and
quiet. The fighting has raged in and
around Mciilla with all the stubborn
brawry characteristic of the Moorish
tritieamon. antl the end Is not yet.
In the Cockpit of Eurjope
THROUGHOUT the Balkan region the
passing weeks have maintained a
situation properly described as mercur
ial. Ferdinand of Bulgaria has been
recognized in his self-assumed CzarBhip
by the Powers; the Viennese diplomat
von Aerenthal, actually representing Ger
manic as well as Austrian interests, has
won a distinct victory in the Serviau
Roanlan controversy over the opposing
forces of England, France and Russia
(the Kaiser's self rattling the sabor in
the sheath to bring Iswoleky and St.
Petersburg into line), and Belgrade's
thrown Prince, George, having killed his
man. has renounced his rights to the
uneasy Servian throne.
Chronic revolutionists as they are,
fighting as readily and more gladly than
breathing, the Albanians close their year
in the field against their Turkish over
lords; heavy lighting has taken place,
some 36,000 men, all told, are with the
Crescent colors or behind the mountain
fortresses which epporo Its advance, and
down at the other end of the ancient
kingdom which has so much to tell at
th bar mention of "Attica" or "Spar
ta.." pugnacious little Crete has played
well forward In the news. She has de
manded release from Turkey and annex
ation with Greece (Athens warmly in
dorsing the suggestion), but Constanti
nople objected in her most emphatic neg
atives, and the four protecting powers
sided with Constantinople. Today their
warships lie in Suda Bay (though the
land garrisons were withdrawn in July)
to enforce the statu quo which, is some
of these days so sure to yield to that
union between peninsula and isle Ivhich
racial and religious, historic and geo
graphic communities of interest all sug
gest. This temporary glosi-ing over of the sit
uation was prompt to bring trouble to
Greece herself. A "Military League"
sprang into being in midsummer, at
tacking the generation-old political cor
ruption which had come absolutely to
control the country's single legislative
hotly and forcing the resignation of the
demagogue Premier Rhallis. Mivromi
chnlls has taken his place, the royal
princes have been deprived of their mili
tary sinecures, and national houseclean
ing is actively afoot, with large promise
of ultimate success, in very spite of
the farcical "Second Battle of Salaniis"
whk-h the wasp-like torpedo boats of
the hothead Tiba'-CoA brought onto the
boards in late October. '
New Hands at the Wheel
WILL It all result in a new King
(the Duke of-Abruzzl, Tor in
stance), seated on the throne from
which George has. reigned, if not ruled.
for more than 40 years? ' Europe hopes
not, yet such a move would add but
one .more name to those which 1909
has written on the list of newcomers
into power.
There was Reshad Effendi, half
brother to the now-exiled Turkish
Sultan, who, as Mohammed V, was
girt wiyi the Sword of th Caliphate
In May. There was the fooy-Shah,
seated perforce on the splendid throne
of Persia in August. There were the
new presidents, Peeanha in Brazil,
Valencia in Colombia (vice Reyes "Re-
us. I - - U lr9l A-Arti . , ! YYTiWi. J" V V rx I if I II li I fit " ' Vae- - "V- J . . Jfc I
BRITANNIA (TO
tired!"), Jiminez in Costa Rica. a. I
our own Great Pacificator here at
home. Joe Cannon, to be sure, has
yielded to no successor up to date,
but the new Cabinet brings Knox, of
Pennsylvania; MacVeagh, of Illinois;
Dickinson, of Tennessee; Wlckersham,
of New York; Hitchcock, of Massa
chusetts: Ballinger, of Washington,
and Nagel, of Missouri, to sit at the
table of the Chief Executive's "Official
Family." with Meyer and Wilson hold
ing over from the time of the present
day African hunter.
Cabinet reversals on the Continent
have come with almost every month of
the 12, but tha big ones have befallen
in France and Germany (in England
it Is a matter for 1910, not '09, to de
cide), where Briand has taken the port
folio which Clemenceau threw aside
with characteristic pique, and where
Von Bethman-Ho'.lweg has braved the
future as successor to Prince von Bue
low. As for Governors and such. G. D.
Colton has followed R. H. Post in
Porto Rico, Cameron Forbes has taken
hold at Manila, and Walter Clark suc
ceeds Hoggatt in our northern ward.
Alaska; Minnesota, which lost that
splendid son, J. A. Johnson, as the
Summer was passing, sees A. O. Eber
hart installed in his place; ex-Chif
Justice Mills has assumed the govern
ment of New Mexico, and "Joe" Brown,
with becoming Jeffersonlan simplicity,
has walked to his inauguration at At
lanta. To which brief and incomplete
list should be added the names of Lee
McClung. who Is today's Federal Treas
urer, and Dana Durand, who -will look
after the coming census figures (there
was a little difference of opinion be
tween Secretary Nagel and Mr. North,
and the Secretary maintained his
ground:)
Diplomatically speaking, Oscar Straus
goes out to Constantinople, as Leish
man moves west to Rome. Kerens
goes to Vienna, Ida to Madrid, and
Rockhlll to St. Petersburg. Calhoun
is to- follow the last-named at Pekln.
Charles Crane got pretty well along
on the outbound road, but cog slipped
somewhere! "The closed m uth is a
part of the open door," commented
somebody tersely, and Mr. Crane is
back in Chicago.
Reviews of the World for a Twelvemonth
With Many Political and Commercial Upheavals;
Spirit of Unrest Everywhere
The Gorgeous East
A BRIEF half dozen rears ego this
sort of thing would have mat
tered little, the gorgeous east was writ
in small letters far down the record
then, but we have changed all that.
Happenings on. the other side of the
Pacific now loom large, and we have
real interest in knowing that Great
Britain has gobbled up another 15.000
square miles of the Siamese peninsula:
that China" has gotten the best of
Japan in the Pratas Island disputes,
has been worsted" in the more impor
tant debate regarding M&nchuriah rail
way rights, and Is getting ready to
build a $100,000,000 navy; Prince Su
has been named first Admiral, and
yards and docks are already under con
struction. The brutal assassination of Ito by a
Corean "patriot," however it shocked
us here (for the Prince was undoubt
edly one of the great statesmen of his
time, fit companion for Bismarck ara
Cavour and Gladstone),- may not have
directly affected our interests in the
peninsula which is seemingly to play
the tragic role of an Asiatic Poland,
but we were primarily affected in that
matter of the Pekln railway loan, for
the completion of the Hankow and Sze
Chuen line. There we have achieved
a victory so real. In its bearings on
our future influence in the Flowery
Kingdom, that only the future can
justly appraise it. London. Paris and
CANADA AND AUSTRALIA) "HERE COMES YOUR NEWEST COUSIN. WELCOME HER1"
Berlin thought they had It all their
way, but reckoned without their Taft.
Today, with the principal increas-d
from 127,500,000 to $30,000,000, the
American banks are to get an even
fourth;, we are to have equal opportuni
ties in supplying materials, are to ap
point subordinate Engineers for the un
dertaking, and hereafter are to be
granted a half of such loans as may
be required for branch roads. All of
which must bring a smile of calm con
tent to the shadowy lips of John Hay.
Scandals and Reforms
THAT same election day brought de
feat to varlus brands cf "reform"
movements ("independent," is the other
word!) in Philadelphia, Buffalo and
Cincinnati; with "Tom" Johnson going
under in Cleveland, and New York's
Tammany Hall being swept out of po
litical activity for the next four years,
in .spite of the success of her ticket-leader,-
Gaynor, in reaching the Mayor
alty. . Boston adopted a new plan of
city government, with that same "re
call" feature which, earlier in the
twelve-month, Los Angeles worked to
oust Mayor Harper.
Whether the new Payne tariff law is
fitly to be placed with reform's de
feats or victories is a matter of per
sonal opinion. Mr. Taft approves it
heartily, and as it gi es him the ap
pointing of a Tariff Board, popularly
held to be the thin opening edge of
the wedge that will some day lead to
a permanent, non-partisar commission,
perhaps he's right in his estimate. Cer
tainly the rv;- Department reforms
which Secretary Meyer has instituted
ere a long step in a ,-ight direction;
"ertatnly, too, the "dry" wave contin
ues to penetrate into the nooks and
corners or the country, in spite of the
ringing rebuff it got in' Alabama six
weeks ago. t
As to scandals, there have been not
a few. even counting only those of
public rather than Individual sort. The
man in the street is not yet advised
as to the true inwardness of the Bal-liftger-Pinchot-Glavls
feud. a. .ent Alas
kan coal lands in particular and water.
IP?
power sites in general, but something
more or less rotten exists in that de
partmental Denmark, for it seems
scarcely possible thattoth sides should
be wholly in the right. Of the long
continued wrong-doing in New York's
sugar importations there can be no
doubt; it is only to bo hoped that the
ciean-up thfere will be as swift and
thorough as was Japan's last July,
when the jfui!ty ones in a graft Scheme
exactly paralleling that, now brought
Out from under cover, were haled off
to prison from the Diet Chamber it
self, where, twenty-three of them had
sat as members.
As to other foreign misdeeds, '09 has
left the Congo muss pretty much where
It found it; the visltpald the great
river basin by Belgium's heir-apparent
was all bark and no bite, so far as, im
proving conditions there was concerned
it has produced a story almost iden
tical in its revolting allegations con
cerning Portugese Angola; and, in Rus
sia, it has hung- out for the world to
see the extremely dirty linen of. the
Loptrkhin case. Here was an official
risking his all to expose the disgrace
ful Azef treacheries and spyings and
losing his all in doing so. With the
clearest of cases made out'against a
villain who had instigated revolution
ary actions only to give up to justice
(?) the very men he had urged on, the
man who showed him up was con
demned to five years' penal servitude.
There are European papers which pre
dict a Russian "l'affalre Dreyfus" sure
and soon to follow.
Constitutionalism Afoot
CHINA, again, has taken the first im
portant step in a programme looking
towards self-government for her teeming
millions, when, in October, her provincial
Legislatures convened for the first time;
eventually a constitution is to be drafted
and gradually put in force. India, too,
thanks to Viscount Morley, is working
to the same end, the Secretary's plan
for schooling the natives In autonomy
being the impelling motive of admitting
their representatives to some considerable
share in the government, as was in
augurated in November the same month
that an ungrateful people attempted the
lives of Viceroy and Lady Mlnto! Persia,
in this path of constitutionalism, moves
slowly but surely; the 11-year-old Shah
has presided at his first, Parliament, an
nouncing that disorders throughout the
venerable empire were fast passing away.
It seems the fact, much to be desired
after the past two years of political chaos.
Of even larger import is the word from
the Cape, telling of harmony among the
representatives of the five great English
Colonies in reaching a plan for such a
union as may soon be known as "The
United States of South Africa;" before
warm weather comes again the. Prince
of Wales will have opened their initial
"National" Assembly. Oppressed Finland
has only the other side of the penny to
show; the Helsingfors Diet and the St.
Petersburg authorities are badly at odds,
and the outlook is not good for the hardy
citizens of the long-abused Grand Duchy.
As for home news which may properly
fall under this classification, it is to be
recorded that New Mexico and Arizona
have again failed of statehood, and that
the. proposed dlsf ranchisem. t of the
negro vote in Maryland went down
to defeat "the first Tuesday after the
first Monday in November."
Ructions and Litle Wars
PROM the Southern "Black Belt" have
come other items of news of the
"unrest" sort. - items varying one from
another in date and scene only, telling
of "Night Riders" still active in arson
SCSJBSSBJ
MSsUsBt
and intimidation and worse, emboldened
in their lawlessness through the setting
aside of the convictions of those who. in
V8, had murdered Captain Rankin in
the Reel Foot Lake outrages. "Crazy
Snake" and his Indian desperado fol
lowers, too, went on a brief war path, in
Oklahoma, last Spring, just as the cool
heads in two nations had once more
quieted down the Pacific Coast agitators,
clamoring again that insults be heaped
upon our Jap m m grants. '
To show the reverse of this last-mentioned
happpening one has but to look
through the Honolulu cables for June,
where he may read of a Japanese strike
that for a moment -promised not a. little
trouble, though it, too,, was straightened
out while still in the incipient riot stage.
The same month brought mutiny and
bloodshed at Davao, P. I., with brisk
fighting and many casualties before the
rebels were driven to the hills and cap
tured. Next door to our holdings down
there, the Dutch have had to meet and
master what has almost come to be an
annual uprising of " the Javanese under
their somewhat narrow rule, and Aus
tralia has contributed ' to the budget a
Miners' Federation strike which tied up
trade throughout New South "Wales for
a fortnight.
The three great strikes of the year,
however (nor is that at McKees Rocks,
near Pittsburg, forgotten in the state
ment, nor that yesterday struggle of the
railway employes in the Nortfc west),
were fought out in Europe, With France.
Sweden and Spain the scenes of the
struggles. In the first case action was
Punch.
taken by the Federal postal and tele
graph operators against their Govern
ment employers. It Is. said 30,000 left
work; it is certain the troops wtere con
stantly on duty, not merely" preserving
some semblance of order in the cities,
but themselves sorting letters and dis
patching wire messages. Beginning in
March, with Jl days' turmoil, .and with
a May encore, less strenuous yet costly,
the trouble-makers emphasized the un
desirable relations of labor and govern
ment in the Third Republic which its
ministers will not soon forget.
Sweden's contest involved more strik
ers; Spain's was most riotous and" tragic.
King Gustave intervened personally to
straighten out the one. after 80,000 had
joined the protesting army of woolen and
cotton workers, but an even month had
been lost and not less than J5.O0O.O0O in
wages and profits. Alfonso did not do
so well. The Barcelona riotings, instigat
ed by the Basque socialists (the extrem
ists of their creed from the first), and
joined in by half the labor organization
in south Spain, undoubtedly needed a
strong hand to quell, but it is o be
doubted if Maura, in behalf of the young
King he served, did not go a step too
far; his activities, at least, caused his
loss of the premiership. Troops continued
to be sent across to Africa, street traffic
and general business was restored to
something like a normal condition in the
affected district, and then Francisco
Ferrer was made official scapegoat "ju
dicially murdered" was the phrase of
half the world the morning after.
In Courts of Law
PRANCE'S own courts have had "L'af
falre Steinheil," with that picturesque
but scarcely admirable little widow suc
cessfully fighting for her life against the
the least judicial -legal code the wide
world over, while in our American trib
unals four cases of large Importance
have been decided. Foremost stands the
decision of a Missouri Circut Court that
the Standard Oil is an illegal monopoly
and must be dissolved (going several bet
ter that rine didn't stand anyway:) A
fortnight before Judge .Sanborn handed
down this ruling, decision had been pro
nounced in the appeal of the labor lead
ers, Gompers, Mitchell and Morrison,
SOME HISTORY MAKING EVENTS
OF THE CLOSING TWELVE-MONTH
THE LIBERAL "BrhGKT," proposing a system of land taxation In England, based
upon values rather than returns (as at present), with the "unearned increment"
feature added, has ben referred "to the voters by the Peers. Parliament has
bn prorogued and a general election will be held aftsr the holidays, the en
thusiastic campaign bein already entered upon.
THK PAYNE TARIFF LAW was passed by an extra session of the filst Con
gress, allegedly fulfilling the Republican ..promises of "revision downward."
In answer to widespread dlssaatisfactlon with it. President Taft calls It the
best such measure ever approved by the Federal legislators.
A XICARAGUAX REVOLUTION, led by Estrada apainst the dictatorship of
Zelaya,- has brought actual v.-ar to the Isthmus, and. through the execution
of two Americans, forced practical intervention by the United States.
FIGHTING IN THE RIFF REGION of Morocco has followed a Spanish mining ad
ventttre there, the engagements having dragged their way through half the
year,, with several hundreds killed.
THE CHINESE RAILROAD LOAN has been opened at last so that the United
States may .share it with England. Franco and Germany: the Celestial gov
ernment having also taken the first steps towards constitutional reform, and
the building of a great navy.
THE SUGAR SCANDALS at the port of New York are being aired in the lower
courts, while the Supreme Court itself Is now to pass upon the two rulings
that 1 the Standard Oil Company is an illegal corporation, acting in re-,
stratnt of trade; and (2 that the Federation of Labor officers. Gompers,
Mitchell and Morrison, acted in contempt of .court In the matter of a boy
cott Injunction.
A UNITED TATES OF SOUTH AFRICA premises to be born early In 11H0. as
the result of the agreement to union reached by Cape Colony, atal, the
Orange River and Transvaal colonies and Eechuanaland. Lord Morley also
lias brought his British Indian reforms into play.
WIDESPREAD AND COSTLY STRIKES have marked "the year in France and
Sweden. Australia, Argentine and ths United States. Barcelona. Spain and
Lima. Peru, have been the centers of serious riotings with bloodshed.
THE CRETAN IMBROGLIO failed to eventuate In the union of the Isle with
Greece, but paved the way for the appearance of a "Military League" at
Athens, which has begun with a strong hand to set the national house In
order. Rumors of King George's abdication have not been fulfilled.
SOMEBODY FOUND THE NORTH POLE. Cook's claim to the discovery is yet
held "under popular advisement." Peary's visit there being everywhere granted.
An English naval olTicer, Shackelton. has set a new antarctic- record, penetrating
to Within 111 mHes of the southern "stick."
which upheld the earlier findings that
they had been in contempt of court in
nut obeying the injunction to cease their
boycott of a certain St. Louis business
house. .Both cases now go to the Su
preme Court Itself for final considera
tion; each involves a principle of primary
and far-reaching value.
The two other matters referred to have
been plead before that highest bench of
our land. In May the so-called "Commo
dities Clause" In the Interstate commerce
law, was passed upon, its constitution
ality being upheld, but such new inter
pretation being given it as to modify it
immense, and wholly in favor of the rail
roads: and in November, for the first
time in American annals, six defendants
were found guilty of contempt of the
Supreme Court Itself. fix-Sheriff Shipp,
of Chattanooga, with five others, Involved
in one way or another with the lynching
of a negro whose execution' had been
stayed, pending an appeal, are now en
Joying the holiday hospitalises of the jail
In the District of Columbia.
To the South of Us
THE year has also brought a great
strike to Buenos Ayres, with serious
street fighting, and her chief of police
assassinated, while the Peruvians lent
themselves last Spring to a political war
Vhlch went so far as an attack upon
the President's palace at Lima; two score
were killed before quiet was restored.
But the Cist of South American domes.
during '09, with special reference to
United States interests, has centered in
Venezuela and Chill. With our old
friend, Castro the Unprincipled, literally
a "Man Without a Country," and with
his successor Gomez trying hard to do
the right, thlrig in spite of poor mate
rials to work with, two of our longstanding-claims
have been settled, with
the three others referred to the Hague
Court. Chili, too, has at last reached an
agreement with us concerning that
000.000 Alsop claim; after we had recalled
Minister Dawson she came to time
promptly, with King Kdward agreed
upon as the judge to whom the case shall
now go. v
In her little rows with Ecuador, Bolivia
and Brazil (all of them boundary mat
ters), Peru has also decided to arbitrate
rather than fight; King Alfonso is to de
limit the first line, while the other two
have been settled by mutual agreement
between the parties most concerned.
And to the North of Us
Above us, by the map and with mere
passing mention that the troublesome fish
eries debate with Newfoundland is to be
settled once and for all at The Hague;
and that Newfoundland herself has been
through two general elections in eight
months, with a total change In govern
ment. all tha news concerns the very
top of this old globe. Who discovered
the North Pole? Commander Peary has
no doubt as to the correct answer; he
was there himself, just last April, and
no one seems to doubt it. But Dr. Cook
says he was there a full year earlier
and right here come in the Doubting
Thomases as legion. If 2D.000 words can
j-ersuade tha University of Copenhagen
of the justi;e of the doctor's contention
(for that is what the report amounts to
which he has sent to the savants who
first hailed his achievement), then a tidy
little dispute, whUm has already filled
newspaper columns by the thousand, will
take en a new lease of life. At this writ
ing, the ca3e is something like the end
less question of tariff revision; you've
good ilgh-To your own opinion and you
know just about as much as the next
fellow.
With the stick down south it's differ
ent. No one has actually placarded it
as yet, but Lieutenant Shackelton, II.
M. N.. has been almost within sight of
it (lit miles away, to be exact) and no
one else has arisen to say him nay!
The Isthmus and the Indes
THE closure at length effected of the
Emery claim, which Washington held
against Nicaragua, obviously did not set
tle matters definitely there, the recent
est happenings of the year, having told
of Americans muraered, marines landed,
and all else that has followed but as a
matter of only a few hours back, but
one must also chronicle of that unea-y
corner of the world the final approval
of the lock-type for our big ditch through
Its southern end, the first use of the
Pacific side of it by the little steamer
"Newport," and the raise in the ulti
mate cost of the some-day-to-ba-com-
pleted whole. Everything is going up
in price, apparently1!
As to Cuba, we left her once more to
her reltless devices last March, and her
first Congress instanter sot very busy
doing next to nothing. It did, pass four
laws, but one was declared unconstitu
tional as soon as signed, and the long
distance telephone bill has merely led to
masterly graft, while the other two
creating a national lottery and legalizing
cock-fighting would scarcely be . called
thoroughly up-to-date.
The Social Side of It
IT has been distinctly a twelve-month
of "official visits." Our world-encircling
battleship fleet had scarcely cast
anchor again in Hampton Roads when
the monarchs of Europe began to pack
their handbags and buy railway tickets.
Kdward of iiigland has been most every
where since then, with his infallible tact
never in better oiled conditfon; the
Kateer has followed his lead. Alfonso
has followed his, Ferdinand, of Bulgaria,
ran over to see Cousin Peter of Servia,
event the Czar dropped in at Cowes dur
ing regatta week and then set half the
continent wondering what was going to
happen to the triple alliance by that
October call of his upon Victor of Italy.
Mr. Taft, still smiling in spite of 13,
000 miles of public dinners, has been
round to see his innumerable friends
and few enemies, stopping in for a chat
with our Mexican neighbor, Mr. Diaz,
en route, and just the ether day young
Manual of Portugal started out for some
thing of much the same sort, the wise
old world at once winking right and left,
I with whispers of pretty nothings of the
rival charms of certain British princesses,
either of which might sit upon half the
LTsbon throne,, if only she would. But
then, nothing "has come of that.
The Fair Sex
Nor is this the .sole item of the now
dying twelve-months' budget which has
to do with the fair sex. The militant
suffragette has been ever on the qui
Vive, going perhaps a bit further than
ever before in conservative (?) merrie
England, winning to her goal of a vote
In Norway, and, here at home, creating
quite as much opposition as she has en
thusiasm. For the sake of those inter
ested, it is only charitable to hope they
may achieve their dearest wishes mqre
promptly than did the Maid of Orleans,
for Joan of Arc had to wait nearly 600
! years after she had been burned at the
stake before the Mother Church did what
it could for her memory by bestowing
upon her the Papal Decree of Beatifica
tion. One final word: there have come royal
babies to Spain aid Holland. The dimin
utive Beatrice was more welcome than
really needed at Madrid, but the arrival
of Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhel
mlna at The Hague, two months earlier,
approximated an event of international
and historic importance. Never was babe
so enthused over, and bonfires and sky
rockets, marching bands and chanting
choirs, cheering -children and dancing
grown-ups, as was Jutiana-and-so-forth.
For with the coming of a direct heir to
the throne which German ambitions were
believed to have been threatened, the
patriotic Netherlander saw all the world
through rosy glasses and proceeded to
'show ft. .
Possibly that is the best place to set
the period of the chronicle of nineteen
nine. It has the truest Christmastide
ring to it of all that has been written,
and the world well may hope that the
presage for the twelve-month which will
draw before another Sunday is to be
found in such hope and good-wjfihing.
rather than in the far less brotherly
march of events which has held its more
or less turbulent course through tha
chain of weeks which this one closes.
(Copyright, l!Hi9, by Warwick James
Price.)
J.iterary Assistance.
They sat on a big, roomy sofa, but he
Was afraid to space up any nearer;
He talked of his aims as writer, and she
Proved a very intelligent hearer.
"They tell me," he said, "I'm diffuse; and
I think
That perhaps I've a fault of digres
sion." "You have." said the maid, with a criti
cal blink,
"You should study the art of compres
sion." F. Moron in Christmas Puck.
The ParsHKe.
Each day. at mutual expense.
Do I and Johnny dine
The food and drink at Johnny's,
The jokes at mine.
Exchange.
n