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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1910)
THE OREGON DAILY JOURNAL, PORTLANdI' SATURDAY EVENING, . JANUARY 1, 1910. W-OIEB MATTERS, OF MOMLNT -'t TO JLVLRY NATIONALITY Auspicious Happenings in America With Financial Matters in Federal; State and Municipal Governments! : Numerous. Political CharigesA Year of Celebration. T7 Arthar I. Street, Editor of ?h randex of the News." r W THEepiFthe political events of A I the Mr are forgottenell the lill tariff ' squabbling.: Roosevelt s ' Yf retirement. -Taffs access on . ' ' -and spectacular trip across the country.' culminating In his meeting .,,,, president Diaz of Mexico, de" feat et T.m.T In New York of Tom iohnson In Ohio, Gibboney in Philadel rlal and Heney In Ban Francisco-the U months of 1909 wllt undoubtedly be , remembered In hUtory. the aeroplane and the discovery of the North Pole. Epic a" JE wad. In both of these wpec". future must look back tOf 10 as the year of their Joint happening. , , ; , wavigatlnf the Air. '',' -Of course th. aeroplane - had mads great progress , in the Pcdln.y"; but It has been th. annuaV period Just closed .that has torougrhtthe lventlorf to a point where Its definite adoption Into the transportation ayetenvof 'the human race la no longer Ifi,- only were there many so-called av at on meets, such , as .those aBreac ta In Italy, Rhelms in France, Johsnnlsthal in Germany, and the Hudson-Fulton eentenarv In New TorK. t which vari ous demonstrations were made as to the f mils of developments thus far reached. Wilbur Wright, at th. centenary cele bration, startling all Naw Tork city by successfully negotiating a flight from Governor's Island,, in the bay- MP" the Hudson river' to Grant's tomb and back attain, each time, for the first time in the history of the world, ; guiding ; an V aeroplane ef warships. r::.?.,fi , ' Bncoessrul. Plignts Made. ' But under the direction of the Frenchman. Louis Bleriot, tha mpno- - plane form of -aeroplane crossed the British channel from Franc, on July !4. electrifying th.world; six daya lat er Orville Wright, with one passenger, at, Fort Meyer, -made a five-mile flight across country at therate of 48 miles an hour, again electrifying th. "world; the German, Count Zeppelin, made suc cessful flights with his dirigible bal- , loon from the extreme south of Ger many to Berlin, and more or. Jess lrreg- lar naesenarer service has been-lfiaug- urated along tha Rhine provinces by t ehthuslastla supporter - of- Zeppelin. Indeed, in' th. matter of practical ap ' plication of aerial navigation, the Ger " mans and French took much the same lead ihat they did years ago In th. , matter of the trolley. . Wiether they will retain the leadership, :of course, mains to-be Been, For, while there has as yet been no attempt made In the United States to effect air transports tlonenaeommrelal -basis, many com panies wer. organised 'during 1909 for " this purpose, and the outlook is for -j many mor. during th. ensuing year. , ;"v Manufacturing Aeroplanes, . In October, for instance, Glenn ,-H.-' Curtlss, who proved himself during -the . year to be th. most .formidable rival and buildings in Schenectady,, N. T., and announced that ha would proceed . at one. to the general manufacture of aeroplanes, vine wrigni tsromers, now-, ever, ' confined themselves . almost ' en tirely to developing the speed, eleva tion, and lifting power of their machine;, leaving the commercial development for. a later day? On. of th. brothers, Orville, succeeded in reachlngA'a height of more than 1600 feet during a flight in Germany,, 'and Lapham, a French- , .man, using , a Wright machine, circled the Eiffel tower in Parts., which is 1000 feet high. Both at home and abroad the Wrights carried one and two. pas sengers on? their aeroplane without dif ficulty, and toward . the end ofj the vear made" numerous ascensions without the ise of lifting weights. They also won the prizes, amounting to $30,000, offered by the United Btates army for a practical aeroplane, and then under took the tutortngef-anny officers In the, use Of the machine which recalls the fact that probably the most import s ant practical bearing of aviation pro ' gress-during the' year was the demon I stration of its importance in war. . j Airships la National Maneuvers. Virtually all the principal countries of the world use some form of airship in the' annual maneuvers, even Japan ' not being excepted. In Germany; the : dirigible balloon accomplished some lm f portant results in scouting, and, after 1 the maneuvers were over, executed a i dramatic surprise against two of th. strongest forts in the;empire. , In Italy; tho army signalized its appreciation of the value of tha dinlfrible by ordering ' an entire fleet to bef constructetl And pwhen Bleriot crossed the British r? n pi and Zeppelin mad. his air tour s long the highly fortified Rhine prov inces, the feelings seemed to come home toi military strategists throughout th. world that a.n entirely new era in war fare was approaehing.-A England be came convinced that her "splendid lso latlon"i.V had been terminated;' both J ranee and Germany, realized , that all , asss8 oWvacvpccomx To 0eXs cwcJieaV fymm; : " ' ..CALIFORNlAv FjgSyhupCo. t; luc.no druggists SO'awttle Q8 : rfiAEEEJSING! their- massive frontier preparations against each other might ultimately be rendered futile; and the bird-like ease with which , Wilbur; Wright took his aeroplane over the foreign warships, assembled in New Tork harbor for th. Hudson-Fulton centenary, did not les sen tli. thoaght that man's conquest of tha air is likely to change his methods of -warfare' enormously. Naturally, under such . clroumstances. military men ; directed themselves with some vigor in th. discovery of means of de stroying the. airship and aeroplan. while' in the air. Various nations, in cluding our own, conducted experiments of shooting at oaptlve balloons with large and small artillery; th. Kruppa Invented a gun especially -designed for airship destroying; but up to th. close pf th. year nothing definite in this di rection has been accomplished. . ; " Goal of Centuries X.Mh.4.'' .. ' Thus; all through th. year, the world was thrilled from time to tlm. by per formances of noteworthy feats in the air. But th. excitement caused by the Wrights,-, thOr-BleriotSjtb. Zeppelins, the Lathams, paled .into comparative insignificance fc when, on. : September 1, came th. . startling announcement that Dr. Frederick A. Cook, of Brooklyn, had discovered th. North Pol. on Aprll 28, 1908,. and five days later Lieutenant Commander Robert E. - Peary returned to the Labradorean outposts of ' civili sation with th. news that ha had lo cated th. Pol. on April (, 1909, adding that to him accrued the honor of be ing th. 'first man vr to stand at th. tjp of the world, ; sine, he could prov. that Dr. Cook was fabricating. oook-"feary. Controversy. , Instantly, there resulted that extra ordinary controversy between th. ad- herents of Peary and-Cook which set tne enure worm ry tne ears ana wnicn is yet to b. definitely settled on. way or th. other in th. qold courts f science. Suffice it to say her. that Peary's statement that he has been to th. Pol. has been" O. K.'d by scientists generally,- he having' had ' his polar records approved in October by a com m'lttee appointed hy1 th National Geo rraphto soolety to examine them; whUe Dr. Cook's records ar. now being -examined under the direction of the Unit versity of Copenhagen 'authorities,-to whom .Dr. Cook promised to . submit them when, on his return to' Civilization by way of Denmark,, he 'was acclaimed th. Pole's discoverer by that country's king and leading men and women gen erally. . ' - , , V South PoW Sxploxatlon. ' Until- the world? was 'treated to the truly unique situation of two Ameri cans returning fromi Arctic fastnesses within a few days of each other and asserting their rigUt to Immortal fame as th. Polo's true discoverer, -interest In exploration' aotlvitles , had been cen tered in ' th. ' Antarotto achievements of Lieutenant El.' H. Schackletoh, of th. British navy. On March 12 cam. the startling announcement that h. had succeeded in penetrating, after, a series of -. most extraordinary : hardships, to within 112 miles of th. South Pole farthest south. - Quito naturally, the news of the actual discovery of the other nd of th. world dimmed considerably the glory of this wonderful feat of our British cousin. On the other hand, the mere fact that -the North Pol. had been discovered by America awakened In England a strong deslr. to b. acoredited In history with tho discovery of th. South Polec aaJ ciu Anureuc tAiiouiuun, -uttcura oy Brit ish funds and made up entirely - of British subjects, is now being equipped with th. object of placing the Union Jack at tho southern tip of the-jworld. Hence, If this particular expedition gains Its . goal, the triumph of human endurance over the elements at ; the South Pol. will have resulted, clearly from a seat of emulation born of an epochal event of the, year Just closing. Th. Big; Strike of th. Tear. ' The biggest 'strike., of the year, as far as this country was concerned, be gan on December 1. when 20,000 rail road switchmen in the northwest went on strike, completely tying up the move ment of freight 1 that section and causing numerous industries, such as tho Minneapolis. and St. Paul flour mills, to shut down for lack Of raw products. The strike was inaugurated in an at tempt to receive higher ' pay. About the middl. of tho year practically , all of Sweden waa seriously : Incommoded for; weeks by a general strike of the labor unions, partly for higher pay, and partly as a protest against general liv ing conditions. The dead could not be burled, a bread famine was threat ened, and oven milk for Infants was most, aimeuit to obtain, even with the army performing all aorts of manual work, .such as running lighting nlanta and making . and delivering bread . and otner necessaries for. life, , - Downfall of Turkish Absolutism. Unllk. most of the great earth dis coveries made since history began, the conquest of th. North Pol. bids fair never to ne a cause of armed conten tion between nations, since apparently, th. Pole itself is set in the midst of high seas, and, certainly, .in "the center of a most forbidding climate, . Primar ily, its acquisition was on. of peace wmcn is more tnan can be said of the year's epochal developments 4n Turkey, where the fate of an empire was ap parently decided forever by on. of th. most remarkabl. revolutions known to modern history, i- . The year befor. the party of oroxTess in Turkey, known as the Yount Turks. had wrested a .constitution- from th. Sultan Abdul Hamld, who had grudging ly, Jthough smilingly, sworn fealty to it. uui no sooner had he cone so than 1 1 became vldent to. th. Young Turks that he was plotting for th. overthrow of the constitution and a return ' of absolutism, and, when ail other means to show the sultan that he was "mnn. keying; with a buss saw" hRd failed,'' me Toung -rurKs, on April 18, set the tnira army corps, mobilized at Salonika, on th. march aghinst Constantinople. With admirable strategy, "its comman der, Chevket Pasha, proceeded to and invested th. capital. Then, on th. iiA h. captured Stamboul, the old Turkish"! iuurar vi uie cny. vrera, in. xoreign quarter, was taken next, with tourists witnessing th. -fighting in the' streets, and, last, Tildla Kiosk and the sultan himself fell into the hands of lh. Young Turk forces. " i "Abdul Kamld Deposed. -It was. on the 46th that the sultin's paiace guard surreTidered-. Promptly the juiiuwins an? : Apaul Hamid was de. posej, vn , fchelk ul Islam, th., hlih priest of Mohammedanism, drawing the indictment of treason against him and with the old tyrant's banishment to and imprisonment in Salonika the terrors of absolutism, so far as the Turkish em pire are concerned, probably came to anl' ena ror au tmie,. : vvumn an nour nr the deposition of Abdul iTamld, the Turkish parliament. mtaW , ohose Mohammed Reehad Effendl, brother of the old sultan, to be sultan, and on May 10, as Mehamed ; V, he was formally girded with ' Mohammed's sword. The year en4s With constitutional govern ment apparently "making good.";. , , ; atassacras In Asia Minor, t While the Young Turks wer. depos' lng Abdul Hamld only about 600 soldiers and. a few noncombatanta wer. killed. The-most stormy and bloody aspect of the revolt was in Asia Minor, where ex tensive religious massacres, said to have been instigated by tho old sultan,-In -the hop. of holding his throne, took placo, about 20,000 Armenians being slain and numerous towns and vMlage's laid waste by- Mohammedan fanatics. .. The powers wer. obliged to send their warships to th. vicinity to protect their citlsens, but fortunately the new-government proved Itself able to restore order and to -punish offenders; ' and thus International complications were averted. . Had ' th. contrary been the ease, . the complica tions would undoubtedly- have been seri ous. For, shortly prior to the Turkish revolt, Austro-Hungary, keenly alive to th. internal troubles of Turkey, had dis turbed the whole peso, of the Balkans by suddenly disregarding the treaty of Berlin and seizing; the provinces: of Bosnia and Herzegovina, presumably in order to Increase her access to the sea. Against this Turkey ' protested ;. and eventually had to be silenced by a money indemnity. S Also Servia protest ed, and that much more vehemently than did Turkey. -Indeed, at one time, there was every evidence that the situ ation would develop into a war between Servla and Austro-Hungary..' '( Great War Soar, of th Tar. . . '-. '4 The great war scar, of the year, how ever, centered around Germany and Eng land, the apparent growing strain of re lations - between these ' two countries causing th. entire civilised world to dis cuss almost dally throughout the year tne possibilities or a war in which they would be the 'oombatant. . It Is an un disputed, fact that both Germany and England all through the year have been, rushing naval construction and military preparations at a somewhat more than usual gait, England going at the work of building ships with the grim de termination of not allowing the mastery of the seas to be wrenched from her by the Germans. i1 V :.'." Britain Alarmed. - "V' In England publio men of national and lnternution'al ,fame declared' unequivo-1 caUy in publio speeches that Germany's warlike preparations could be directed against England only, and While visiting In this country and Canada, .Lord Charles Beresford.. admiral of the B-lt-iahn4vy, and . Lord : Northollffe. the owrier of many pewepapers and periodl- citiB iiirwuguoui ureac joritain,; maae nu merous speeches calling upon this coun try to Unite wlh England in keeping the kaiser nt peace.- To put It mildly, the British nation viewed with -extrem. un eaa(nes throughout the entire year th. possibility of anarmed clash wlth Germany. ' . , -r t 't.,t Germany After Trade. Ori the German side, officials close to th. emperor made repeated assurances that-th.latter'a-imawere altogether peaceful. As late ai November, Count von Bernstrof f,- the German ambassador to the United States, made an extended speech in Philadelphia, in? which he stated that his government no toneeri sought extension of its colonies and that! the ony-aim of th.j Uarman penplo for the future, was the expansion of trade. : But, some months before, when the relchstag opened, on. of th. principal measures brought up for discussion was a new scheme of taxation, whose ob vious -object was an Increase in the mil itary budget. Increas. Tariff-Duties. Th. scheme lnvolved increasing the levy on many of the common necessities of He, such as tobacco, sugar, coffee, etc., snd such wa' the fight . made against it that evehtually Chancellor Von Buelow was driven to resign. The bill was finally passed before the-reslg-natlon was presented, but, the fact that the chancellor hati been one of the em peror's closest confidants satisfied the opponents! of militarism that the im perial pressure-for army and navy ex pansion was not relaxing. . - . It may thus be that, in the end,' the German taxation controversy and the apprehensions and forecasts of Euro pean war will prove to havr bad fourth rank with the aviation and the North pole ''discovery and the downfall of Turkish absolutism, as events of the year 1909. Vattonal riasnolal Troubles. At any rate, whatever their signifi cance, they served- to fix' the attention upon the fact that the year was marked, In aimostU nations, and, for the mat ter of that, in almost all state and cities, by a reexamination -of . financial budgets and resources. England, above all others, entered into this problem with a vital appreciation of Its conse quences, the Liberal ministry, under Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asqulth, making it the party Issue of tho year. Confronted by an Impending , deficit of over u 178,000,000, the minstry pro posed, ampng other radical measures, a great increase in tha inheritance, In come and real estate taxes, together with stamp taxes on real estate and stock exchange deals. . " i , , " " i Xn4 Owners ODpos. Btronnonsly. At once there broke forth a storm of - opposition,; especially among the wealthy ana landed classes, who have since -constantly cried '.Confiscation"" and "Socialism." : In November, after prolonged discussion, the budget passed the house of ; commons by a large ma jority, and went to the ; lords, who, after prolonged debate.' which at tracted attention all over the world, re jected the budget on November 80 by a vote of S50 to 76. Two days, later th. house of commons' sjjpported over whelmingly Premier - Asqulth's resolu tion, charging the; lords wlth-usftrpa-tlon,: in that they had dared: to inter fere with financial legislation, contrary to the. unwritten law of the kingdom; the next day parliament was prorogued till January IB, and the campaign for the January elections became hot im mediately. If a Liberal majority is re turned to parliament, the rejected budget will be passed and? the unwritten law that the lords shall not "Interfere with tho kingdom's financial program will be made Into a statute, and another step will have been taken towards the curtailment, and probably ultimate abol ishment of the house of lerds. The lords realize all this, and also that the budget will hit -them heaviest of all. as possessors of -jrreat landed estates and fortunes, and they are fighting In the campaign now on. as if for their very lives, with the fctbrrajs' crv filling all England that theirs is a campaign of democracy against class a question of whether tho people or the arlatbccacy shall rule " - Tariff RevtsionT. - In financial matters, th United Utes Of and Great Britain fan parallel, with the only difference that our nscai oiscus sion centered- not. around a so, called budaeL but the revision of the tariff. . Pursuant ro the pledges of the plat form on which h. was elected, Presl dent Taft-immediately following his in auguration, on March 4, as Mr. Roose velt's successor, called, congress in ex tra session . on March II for the . ex press purpose of revising ' the tariff without delay, with the two fold object of living up to the Republican platform promises to revise the tariff and satis f ylng th need of an actually increas ing revenue, th'e government's deficit ielng estimated all the way from $80,- 000,000 to. $100,000,000. ..v'V;yQ;: Increase la Bevenues. Committees of both "houses had been Itt session during the latter liart of the Roosevelt administration taking testi mony on the lmpendimy revision, and on April 9. the first draft of the bill, known as the Payne bill, was passed in the house.-)n July 8, the .senate passed the bill with amendments, most or wnicn raised the house duties, either by restor ing the old " tariff rates or increasing the4atter. As a result, from the date of the senate's action until the bill was finally oassed by both houses and algned by the. president on August , Mr. Taft had his hands full trying to persuade all hands to meet tha. popular demand, for revision downward and the Republican party pledges for sucn re vision where needed. With the bill signed Mr. Taft Issued a statement In which he- declared that In large meas ure it met the wishes of th. people; four days later, the bill went into effect; and, whether due to the new bill or to the resumption of general prosperity, co incident with the year Itself, the gov ernment revenues manifested a marked increase shortly after the new rates went into effect. , '-..';, ' ' . If ew American Legislative yea-tores. , Two new features of the new bill 7.ave been dweimpon by its friend? both in and out. of the administration as be ing new and of. great importance. One is -the provision for a tax - upon cor porations , and the other was th. au thorization - for th appointment of a tariff commission, which should assist th. president In determining how to enforce tho maximum and minimum fea tures of th. blh, and to collect, and prepare .data for use In future tariff legislation. Th. president named as the members of this commission. Professor Henry a Emery, James B. Reynolds and'Alvin H. Sanders. He defended the corporatlon""a as affording a means of carrying but the publicity policies inaugurated under Roosevelt . : , ' Xooomo Tax JLmenlment. ' - Another, piec. of Taft recommended legislation' that developed during the tar iff deliberations was th. passing of art- authorization for a Vote pf the states on an- Income tax amendment to the constitution. The . amendment , was at once acted Upon ' In the state of Alabama,- where -its was unanimously - apv proved by the legislature" and signed by the . governor by Auust Mr. Taft received the cordial support of William J,.' Bryan who Issued a jpublio call . to Democrats' to aid in the passing of the amendment and' the enforcing of the corporation tax. Incidentally Mr. Bryan severely excoriated tne Democrats who defected In. the matter of the speaker ship and cast the deciding votes for Mr. Oannon. , v v Bitter Fight Over Speakership, ' . ' This fight over the speakership was reall-the start, in both houses, of a seriftudiyislon of attitude among the Republicansrover "WeTpfOTerwy-of revising the tariff.; Certain Republi cans In the house, Who had rebelled dur ing the. previous sessions of congress against the domination of the epeaker, crystallized into a strong and united group at the Outset of the. extra session and only missed defeating Joseph G. Cannon for reelection through support given to the 'latter by some defecting Demoras. In the senate,the defec tion was based not so much on the ques tion' of rules as on a protest against what was called tho ''schedule" of those Interested In putting through a tariff drawn for special Interests. . Senators a Follette of Wisconsin, " Brlstow of Kansas, Nelson of Minnesota, Bever idge of Indiana and Dolliver and Cum mins of Iowa, led the movement. Tor. gether with the dissident Republicans in the. house.' they became known as the "insurgents, ,' . and, when congress adjourned, they carried their insurrec tion out into their home districts. As the year closes, ' the great agricultural states of the middle west constitute a battleground for the socalled insurgents and their opponents, led by Speaker Can non, who is being made the principal object of attack on the part of the in surgents. , ' rtnancas All Important. " Sufficient time had not yet elapsed when the year closed to determine the ultimate fate of the new British budget or th. ultimate effect of the new Amer ican tariff. But the fact" that so im perative a necessity for increased reve nue existed in two of the world's lar gest governments in Jact, in three,, if Germany be lncludecf-perhaps . plaoed the question - of the finances of gov ernment in- the fourth rank among the year's developments. Great Municipal Problems. Nor was the Importance of the sub ject in any wise lessened by the fact that' the same Issue-arose In municipal and state governments. V During the year the states of Michigan and of Georgia ran so short of cash as to be unable, for a tlme, to meet current bills as they came due; Several other states barely escaped a similar predicament. In the metropolis of the country, JNew York City, an extraordinary confusion arose; over the state of the city's ac counts, over the question of whether the debt limit should be raised, and finally over the political question of-whether there should bo a vital change In the city administration. In- the campaign for mayoralty,: a business man, Otto T. Bannard, was nominated by the Repub licans and Fuslonists, and, .though ; he was defeated, the board of estimate on the same ticket-with him was Success ful, and. in effect,, the' finances .of the city, which .will spend a billion dollars in the next four years, -were taken out of the hands of Tammany, which had so long administered them. -, Chicago's "Economical Sfforts. Similarly, In Chicago, there - was t a comprehensive attempt to , reorganise finances. The movement was led by a profesor of the University of Chicago, C, t E. Merrfam who had been elected at' the spring polls to the board of al derman, and" finally , took form' in the appointment of a committee to investi gate conditions and report on proposed methods of - revision. The committee had only begun its work when the year closed, but the result of Its inquiries waa foreshadowed 'by an announcement from city officials that the payroll for" 1910 would probably be -out by about $LEOO,000. I . . - Government by Commission. Two concrete, efforts "wer. mad. -to rectify financial conditions in- the. vari ous states. ' Indeed,' the gear's thoughts among the American people, outside "of such as wr. devoted to tariff, appeared to concentrate on, city government Not only were finances carefully heeded in the latter -respect, but the" cause of "-tsommtssion , government," .by whloli yadicalj. changes are effected In ' the JU UJ W . method of city administration, maUi rapid advancement,. Government by commission was adopted 'in - Arkansas City. San Dlexo, Wichita .and other cities, and in Minnesota and Wlcon sin legislative authorization was Issued to cities of certain class to alter their administration to conform to Jthls new plan, Des Molhes, Iowa, which was one of the pioneers of the plan, reported during the year" that an annual deficit cf i 880,000 had been converted into an annual surplus of $30,000; and this alone did much to stimulate interest. , V - BegTUatin Xmmlgtatlon. . , AS a part of the movement for bet ter conditions In our cities, which have to bear the , brunt of. the burden of making aliens ,over. into, Americans, much attention' was given to-the.critt; cal subject . of Immigration, exclusion and deportation of immoral persons be ing one of the provisions of the Ameri can immigration act Immigration on an" extensive scale was resumed .during the year, and the . pressure ; for some means of restraining it was resumed al most- simultaneously. To meet this pressure, the governmental authorities applied all possible excuses for restric tion, ' increasing -the number -of r depor tations until many . cries of injustice were advanced. , , , JtUling- of Petroslno, On Maroh 1 a federal Investigation committee reported that the immjgra- tlort laws were much in need of amend ment, .specially, i with regard to the criminal classes.' On March 12, em phasis seemed to be given to this con tention by the dramatlo killing In Pa lermo, Italy, of a lieutenant of police of New .Tork. Joseph Petroslno, Petro slno had been for several years a most courageous and daring proeecutor of the so-called Italian Black Hand In New York.' He had gone abroad to secure evidence against criminal Italian im migration, and his murder: at once pro voked much -comment throughout . tha country'on th. dangers Involved In an unrestrlctlve immigration ' law. Aside from the criminal aspect of the Immi gration problem, an, Interesting phase developed in an, agitation for a scien tific distribution Of immigrants -under federal direction. . , .' i - . Strike and &aoe War. ; t' Something of emphasis waa Imparted to the foreign-American problem- by the developments among the steel ptdus- ines in jreiuiHyivama, , woere a Diner and sullen strike among the steel car Workers at McKees Rocks Involved an almost equally bitter and sullen con flict oetween races. At one time the Americans at McJKees Rocks marched hack to work Independently of the for eigners; and again , Secretary. Morrison of the American - Federation of Labor declared that the whole trouble at the mills : was that ' the- owning company was v seeking- to , cut down wages . by taking advantage" of the fact that the majority of the employes were ' newly imported foreigners. 1 Eventually,; ..this Strike ; settled itself by Wptlar pres sure, the company giving in to tho men; but it was an- Intense and dramatic affair" while it ' lasted 1 and contained many elements of social disorder that created momentary apprenension. . ; - Great Problem Before tabor. Interest centered.. In V the so-cklled Buck Stoye knd- Range case, wherein the leaders 'of the American .Federation, Messrs. Samuel Qompers,- Johft Mitchell, and Secretary Morrison, were held guilty of contempt of s court for continuing to jpuDiisn a, Doycottt or tne buck Ktoye and Range -company of St. Lpuls in the "Federatlonist" .On March, 11. the Hli-?:?),u,nb,"'COurt -3f sustained We IOwerxowtin-itsecislQn-l that Gompers : and his - associates wer. guilty, and in October the federal court for the District of -Columbia , still I further sustained the decision. Gompers and Chose with him ' contended that obedience to the mandate of. the court In. the first Instance was an abridge ment of personal liberty to which the labor organizations could not submit, and they insisted that,r though, they might be imprisoned,, they would con tinue to fight for the principle involved. ' Contending1 for Principle; . ' . "This position waa 'reiterated by Mr.. Gompers in the'meeting of the American Federation of Labor at Ottawa, Novem ber '8, the -convention ; feeing the first annual session of the federation held outside of American boundaries. Mr. Gompers, however, explained that this fight for principle was to be evolution ary and not revolutionary an attitude which he had previously taken In a tour abroad made by him during the year for the purpose,of studying labor condi tions in other countries. At the federa tion, convention and elsewhere.'rifc. was made clear that the method of operating for the achievement of reforms was -to be by suffrage and by influence Upon suffrage. And wherever elections of .any importance wer. held daring 1909. the labor unions were , found active in attempting to elect or prevent the elec tion of candidates favorable or unfavor able to themselves.- But they were not conspicuously successful politically until the November ideas, when they again, put a labor mayor, ' P. H. Mc Carthy, into the chair in San Francisco. - Standing; for Equal Suffrage. ; -Interesting' ; enough, ' one of th. subjects .of "consideration which aroused the mot' enthusiasm at th. convention of this labor federation was . that of woman suffrage, and a resolution was adopted urging the. various local's Of the federation to. exert thelr influence in every.; possible Way in favor of en larglng rights and., the franchise for women. Of course, part of the motive of these resolutions was the Improve ment in the condition' of working wo men, which it waa.felt miglit best be wrought through woman suffrage. But aside from, that, it was significant that thus, among the so-called "common peo- It Jk -' Registered U. 8. fat. OiBe. IIJ Ask your' Um 7 .bearing this trade mark , 1U pleV'-Vth. suffrag. movement gained explicit support. - ' , Ho Serious Strikes. The Mr.Kfies nocks strike was not al lowed at any time t -extend beyond Us immediate field, nor was there any other strike in this country during the year that-had much mor. than local sweep, including ; the Philadelphia- strefet car strike for higher pay and the Georgia railroad strike for the elimination of negro firemen, both being won by the men. In the main the labor situation for the year was extremely quiet. ; Women Pig-ht for Ballot. Outside of the labor field, suffrage made" equally notable p -ogress during the year. In the eustera slates a num ber of well-to-do and wealthy women took active hold of the propaganda, in cluding 'Mrs. O. IL' P. Belmont." Mrs Clarence H. Mackay, and many others. OrKanlzatlon's of many sorts wefe fnrmort and : mnrnhninHt n was' held in them not only by prominent women, but also by prominent men. 'There was little or no tendency to adopt he mili tant " rogram of the so-called nuf- fragettes of. England, several.of whom came dver to America during the lat ter part of the year to stimulate general Interest. in the cause." Among! them was Mrs. Emraeline Pankhurst, leader of the militants in the British empire. She was received with enthusiasm and made many speeches tnrougnout tne uniteq States. Almost while she was speaking a climax came to the suffragette move ment in England by an attack made on the Guild, hall In London during the installation, of the lord mayor, and by a declaration on the part of Winston Cherchlll that the whole cause was loa ing strength . through the - disorderly method of its advocates.,- .. Conservation and Irrigation. Another movement Which attracted well, nigh- universal Interest in this country was that In behalf of reclama tion and conservation ofour natural re sources, with especial attention to those resources atlll in tha hands of .th. fed eral government What had been , begun : under the Roosevelt regime,' and conceived '. long before that was continued, with due expansion during the year. The govern ment prosecuted without interruption Ks many irrigation projects in the west and on September 23 signalized one of Its most momentous undertakings by opening th. Gunnison tunnel for the re clamation ; of the Montrose valley In Colorado. President Taft touched, the button for this occasion' and made th. dedicatory address, and" thereafter made It evident in many of his. speeches on his western tour' that tne sympathies of the current administration were fully with the reclamation movement and that SO far as it lay within the power of the ' chief executive all possible steps would-be taken to further the reclama tion development. , . r , V ' Pinchot-Balllnger Controversy. At the Natlonar irrigation ; congress, which assembled in Spokane on August II, there arose th. now celebrated con troversy between Chief Forester Glfford Plnchot and Seceretary; of 'the' Interior TKniilno-pr Aver thn nrntentlnn nf witr. power sites.' Secretary Ballinger had re voked an order of. Secretary Garfield, his predecessor, in regard to the with drawal from ontry ef certain lands con taining sites for waterpower, and. For ester pinchot in his address at the irri gation congress,- appeared to ; criticise the wisdom of this policy r A somewhat sharp- exchange of opinions ensued, the situation bejng complicated by an afaftr in Alaska, wherein It was alleged that certain numerous coal land claims taken by the --Cunningham eyndlaate bad-been wrongfully'entered. Glavla Dismissed. ' Secretary Ballinger had at on. time been the attorney for the Cunningham syndicate and this was cited to show that hie actions in the government's at tempt to. withdraw entry on these coal lands were not disinterested. The whole subject was passed tip to the president, who made publio a letter fully exoner ating Ballinger and dismissing from of fice the chief field Inspector of the for estry service, L.' H. Glavis, for filing misleading Information against Ballin ger. -i- Subsequently, the president also made publio a letter to Pinchot stating that the Ballinger letter was not intend ed as a ref leotion - upon hlra, praising Plnchotls great service to the country, and expressing a hope that he would re main at his post. - ' ., Eliot Appeals to People. The whole controversy was still un settled as he year closed. .But that the advocates of conservation were not affected, by the wholematter was made evident by a strong appeal issued by Charles W. Eliot, who retired from the presidency of Harvard university, and had been made president of the National Conservation league, for concentration of popular attention on the preservation of the nation's resources both In coal and in waterpower. Associated with JirJ iitiot In the Ieagu-.weFe-many of the most prominent roen Jn he country, the league being an outgrowth of the con ference held in .Washington In February, The declaration Of principles by the con ference was transmitted to congress by President Roosevelt as a possible guide In shaping legislation. "1 1 i'';- Pox Rational Waterways. "v; A natural corollary of the conserve tinn movement waa the mnvemen. tnr summary execution of two - Amer non wtrarv. Thl mOvoman nraa i citizens "- in mia-WOVemDer. on tremely .strong throughout the year, es pecially in the middle west, Where the Lakes-to-Gulf navigation d plans v werel given a big impetus by a oonventloVi at l New Orleans early in November. Prior rtePRrt,?n tofM- conduct, to, this convention, .president Taft In eluded a steamboat trip down the Mis sissippi in his "western, tour, and in his various .speeches enroute repeated ' the position - he had taken in his speeches further west and,, in November, at Nor 3C HE 'Delicious :D IBakcf-s : Cocoa made;:by;SGientifiI blending 4-A .;' , a, e-v f' Ayk 1 ' Li-iTi it -H grocer for the package IE '"'DC folk's waterway-conKresM viz., tJv.f whole subject of waterways" rI,,, put upon , the same ;comprchenslvt buuiness like hftsts as had been u- tho case- of" the I'anama canal, made notable progress during the He. advocated the formation of a t' matlc plan of procedure and the cr,. of a bond Issue with which to r.! out, at the same time setting j)U firmly against "the Dork tutrut .' Idea, ha promised to recommend In messaga to congress., . President's Country. Wide Trip. In fact, the president's western. jiuiuui oi an extraordinary brr of legislative proposals. - Tha t dent started across the country 0n tembor 15 from Boston, passing tin,' many cities enroute, reaching as went and north as Seattle and retui via San Francisco, Los Angeles, lei y. and the southern States. Confer, this long trip was made for tlm , purpose of informinsr tiio nonni- i aamnistrion's legislative prog', Taft justifies Tariff tegiaiatioa At Wlnojia, In Minnesota, lr,,s . Taft delivered th first speech caused any popular Stir. Winona Is home of Congressman James A t ney, and the president availed hln of the occasion' to Justfy the ra Aldrlch tariff bill (for which Tat had voted) and to nrnn the best pieces of tariff leglslatio the history of the country. The was muoh critizised both within , without' the president's party served at once to start the so-caller surgents' of conn-ess.' nm...... I F6llette and Cummins, on an t tariff. anti-Cannon, anti-Aldrtch tr ganda. ,:'-.:-;-".,'-.. ,, . , . In his message to obngrees on IV ber 7. the nrealdent rammmnj - - . "--. 11U flj establishment or a postal savings fc a higher rate of postage for magur Simpler methods for the federal e' to avoid thelaw's delays, publlclt federal electlons.and a strong fe! health" bure.au.' -He-oromised spt messages on.conservaUon. and th subjects discussed on his western t urged economy, on adminlstra asked that no cnogressional lnqulr made into the sugar scandals; s reorganization in the sute departn putting the service on a merit b and declares -that the adminlstra will - encourage "Tfnd protect Amer enterprise In foreign countries. : Ht eo wants nenstrtna ,ni tn - . - el--.-,, v " ft r . U V employes or me federal governs and declares thnt tha wnrtr ,.' cently appointed tariff board twin of great assistance in future rovi: of the rates nf rtnt.'" Proposes Many Beforms. ! But as - President Taft srot far into the west his speeches cnar from political to constructive sub and by the time-he had reached P. mond on his return, he stated wit. reserve that" he would reoomnienf the ; approaching .; session of cong1 the -" following tODlcs: Sunervlslnr. capital stock and of bond issues of terstate corporations; i readjustment the powers of the interstate eomn commissions; expansion of the and powers of the bureau of con tlons; creation of an,, Interstate-i merce bureau itt the department of tlcerereation of a eo-called 'rail-. court"; establishment of postal sav i banks; amendment of the Jaws gov, Ing the Issuance of -injunctions; ! prchenslve provisions as -to, consei Uon, waterways., irrigation, etc. : Meetinj With President Diaz. En route, from'; Los Angeles eastw President Taft crossed the ' w. border and met President Diaz of latter country. Save for the vial President Roosevelt to the Panknt pubffcZ"lhTs r"the-frrsrtimert president of the United States haif , outside Of national territory during term of office. In Mexico, it rei eneclal . act Of congress to p DlaxtO cross into American terri The formal i meeting of th. two tf executives took place on a V which for the time being was regt. as. neutral territory. -Cordial fell tlons were exchanged, and an el ate banquet was set, in Juarez, at t: the diners ate off a million dollun of gold dishes, taken from .Maxta by the Mexicans. . j Iater r warships . were dispatch? Nicaraguan ports on the Atlantic I Pacific, and a force of several htir marines sent, to Panama to be cIok hand in cas. of need. 8tlll later' December 1, Secretary" pf State K in a remarkable document. In whk warmly accused Zelaya of . frw treaty violations and other lnternat j breaches of the peacedeclared that government would hold him pero : responsible for the execution of Ai cans. At the same time Mr. Knox ha his oassDorts to the Nicaraguan c! ' 4'affalrs, but added that he couli main In this country and the r' ment would consult with him, if n'i sary, Just as it proposed to oonsult; the. revolutionary v representativt j WashingtoTiTAs the year ends thl; ternatlonal question and the Nlearar fclvll war remain to be definitely tied. ""'. --' Bevolutloa In Bloaragna. Tn th tatter mart of the vear, subject of the relationship of United States to the Latin republic aiven : an additional interest oj breaking out -of a revolution In acrua axainst President Zelaya, charge Of being revolutionists, W j government to prepare for the exf of a pnnitive expedition of mariti! oase Zelaya refused to mak. P". Prior to the-up-cropping of tW, layan matter, the state departn chief concern to the south of ui f in s keeping1 one Senor Clpriano O from again setting foot on Vener (Concluded on Page Following , it oi rtlfe .:. i. - - i i , -. . .. r