OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 13002, 22 December 1906, Page 12

OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

A PEOPLE'S LOBBY. ’i'he organisation of what wifi bo known as the “People's Lobby" at Washington is another of tho peculiar manifestations of the trams. and it seems probable that it is likelv to become an important factor in rational legislation. Tho idea is that- there shall bo maintained in Washington a people's bureau, that will be prepared to furnish the constituents of any member of Congress, on short notice, with accurate information as to what the status of any piece of legislation is, and at tbo same time supply information as to tho attitude of members of Congress toward pending legislation. It lias been suggested that a more fitting name for tbo organisation would bo “Tbo People’s Publicity Bureau.” While the plana of the organisation are stiff in tentative form, it is understood that it is proposed that there shall be actual work for legislatioiii of importance, in caso tho people as a whole seam to demand it. Apparently on honest attempt lias been, mado to form an executive or governing com mitteo composed of high-class men. President Roosevelt approves tho movement, and no doubt he has been consulted before this Committee was formed. Among the members of tho Committee are Benjamin Ido Wheeler (president of the University of Chlifonria), S- L. Clemens (Mark' Twain), F. J. Henrv (of California). Judge Ben I). Lrndeev (of' Denver, Colorado), F. K. Webeter (oif Chicago), Brand Whitlock (Mayoo£ Toledo, Ohio), F. G. Howe (of Cleveland), Jameo B. Reynolds (of New York), Homer Folks (of Now York), Mark Sullivan (associate editor of ‘Colliera Weekly ), Wm. Allen White (of Kansas), Henry B. Needham (of Washington, D.C.), John Mitchdl (president of tho United Union Workcis), and Everett ♦'olbv (a reformer of Now Jersey). What the lobby is actually to do. how do it, and how to lie sustained has not been made public as yet. One thing is certain, however: if properly managed, it cannot do any harm, and may do much good. At any rate, tho experiment seems to ho worth a trial. UNIFORM DIVORCE LAWS.

Tho Select Committee appointed at 11 hi last Congress on uniform divorce laws have hold a meeting, and finished their work. A model divorce'law wifl be presented to the next Congress, which meets on November 13. Tho prime object the new law has in vi.-w is uniformity. To induce tho several States to accept .such a law, and to prevail upon them to adopt common ground—this v, the aim, and from that standpoint it is a matter of secondary importance whether the law lie drastic or indulgent. Absolute divmco and divorce from bed. and board ire (iroviikd for. Tho grounds for absolute divorce are adultery, bigamy, conviction and sentence for crime followed by two venrri imprisonment, extreme cruelty, wilful desertion, and habitual drunkenness. Divorce from bed and board may be for tiro kidio caaiecs, and for tho additional cause of “ hopeless insanity ’ of !>:■ husband. Tho Committee desire nni- ’ inn legislation to discourage divorce for hj purpose of remarriage, by requiring one •dclav at least in all oases, and by i-Kreasing the resort, .apparently at the Court's discretion, to tlio limited annulment of tho marriage contract, that does not qualifv cither party for a second union. One of tlie most praiseworthy features! of t he proposed new law is that prohibiting " roister" lawyers from soliciting divorce ca o-i bv advertisement, circular, or any other manner, and prescribing for such tm offence a tine not to exceed £2OO and imprisonment for not less Uum one year. All of the States could adopt this law without injustice to anyone. That alone would be, a long step toward marriage and divorce reform. CHANGES IN PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S CABINET. Prospective Cabinet changes have been announced from the White House. Mr Moody (Attorney-General) will bo apgtfinfccd Aa thcL. S to

succeed Judge Brown; Mr Courtclyon, now Postmaster-General, will succeed Mr Shaw, of tho Treasury Department; Mr Geo. Von L. Meyer, now Ambassador to Russia, will bo given the Post Office portfolio; Mr Bonaparte will be transferred from tho Navy, to succeed Mr Moody as Attorney-General; Mr Metcalf will go from tho Department of Commerce and Labor to bo Secretary of tho Navy, and will be succeeded by Mr Oscar S. Strauss, of New York. President Roosevelt has a habit of looking for men; he disregards race, creed, or previous political affiliation. Mr Strauss is a Jew, and was a Democrat until 1900. Mr Bonaparte and Mr Wynncr, a former PostmasterGeneral, now Consul-General at London, are Roman Catholics.

Incidentally, tho changes fix Mr Taft’s status with regard to the Presidency. He is evidently Mr Roosevelt’s candidate. It was generally believed that Mr Taft would have preferred a place on the Supremo Bench, but it is very likely that lie was persuaded to keep himself in a position to accept the Republican nomination for the Presidency, and from appearances ho has consented. By doing so he practically puts a quietus on tho persistent efforts of the Republican Press to persuade Mr Roosevelt to run for another term. “MADE IN THE UNITED STATES.” Tho United States Consuls in foreign' countries report a largo importation of cottonseed oil for use in adulteration of olive oil. Tho retailer in this country may sell what ho receives from tho wholesaler in confidence that it is genuine olive oil. The wholesaler and tho importer, on their parts, may scrupulously refrain from adulterating the oil received (or more probably dose it liberally with cottonseed oil). But at the source of supply, the little plantation in some remote valley in Italy, the honest farmer has added to the product of his presses an amount of cottonseed oil equal to quo-third of the whole. Care on the part of all who handle the oil in this country to keep it pure is of no avail if it is already mixed with the cheap American cottonseed oil. This adulteration, which fakes abroad from this country over £2,500,000 worth of cottonseed oil, would not bo possible except for tho fact that experts cannot detect tho adulterated from the pure article. This being the case, American producers of cottonseed oil sell their goods in the open market under its proper name. It is said to be as palatable and healthful as the pure olive oil. There is no good reason for exporting it to Europe and then importing it back again. Tho article as made in America is entitled to tho creditgiven to tho counterfeit foreign product. EDISON’S NEW BATTERY. “ Wizard ” Edison has made a now discovery, and makes tho prediction that in fifteen years tho horso will be a curioand that we will bo paying two shillings to look at him in side-shows. Ho claims to havo worked ont successfully the problem of cheap power. He promises to pnt on the market within six months a new storage battery which will enable every man to travel in his own private carriage at about tho cost of one oar faro without danger, without breakdowns, without cost almost. A carriage once annulled with the new power for £l4O will travel without repairs for fifteen years, for 100,000 miles if necessary. He claims that his storage battery will solve the problem of congested traffic in tile big cities of the world just as soon as ho can manufacture tho batteries. He is erecting two large factory buildings, now nearly completed. Cobalt is tho new element in the storage battery. There is plenty of this material in Canada, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Kentucky. PROGRESS OF ELECTRICITY. The live wire is reaching onward to so many fields of human activity and is talked of in connection with so many marvels as yet moralised that it is one of tho most fascinating subjects with which civilisation lias ever dealt. A century ago the world knew but very little of electricity. The first message was sent in 1844. Now tho telegraph interests of the United States alone represent a capital of £50,000,000. The first Transatlantic cable was opened in 1866, and now there are 252,400 miles of ocean cable in operation. Later came telephones and electric railroads, followed by wireless telegraphy. The wire furnishes light, heat power, and carries on an endless conversation between distent places. It reaches over mountains, operates mines, gives to cities a blaze of illumination, and carries trade and travel at the rate of 150 miles per hour. A Virginia inventor has a photegranhic device that, when perfected, will enable a person at the telephone to seo the face of the person to whom ho is talking. An American physician in Paris has discovered a pi an to seo by telephone the waves of light and sound while listening to an opera by wire. Professor Bell, inventor of the telephone, says that seeing by telepliono or telegraph is among the possibilities. THE NEW SYSTEM OF SIMPLIFIED SPELLING. The United States Government have adopted the new system of simplified spelling. President Roosevelt orders absolutely no quarter to foolish vowels and consonants that now clatter the language of State. He regrets the uproar of ignorance that has greeted tho announcement that all letters that do not make a noise are to bo tied to the electric chair, and asks : “ What in the name of common sense is the use of ‘ ough ’ that is pronounced ‘uff’ in enough, ‘ow’ in plan, ‘oo ’ in through, ‘o ’ in though, ‘off’ in cough, and so on to the end of the list. Tie the btmch to tho third rail and run the cars over them.” —President Orders Changes Made.— President Roosevelt’s letter to Public Printer Stillings reads : “ Charles A. Stillings, Public Printer, Washington.—l enclose herewith copies of certain circulars of the Simplified Spelling Board, which can be obtained free from tbo Board at 1 Madison avenno. Now York. Please direct that hereafter in all Government publications of the Executive departments tho 300 words enumerated in circular No. 5 shall be spelled as therein set forth. If anyone asks tbo reason for the action, refer him to circulars 3, 4, and 6 as issued by tho Simplified Spelling Board. Most of tho criticism of tho proposed step is evidently mado in entire ignorance of what tho step is, no less than in entire ignorance of the moderate and common-senso views ae to tho purposes to be achieved, which views are so excellently set forth in tlie circulars to which I havo referred. —No Revolution Proposed.—

“There is not the slightest intention, to do anything revolutionary or initiate any far-reaching policy. The purpose simply is for tho Government, instead of lagging behind popular sentiment, to advance abreast of it, and. at tho same time, abreast of tlio views of tbo ablest and most practical educators of our time, as well as of tho most profound scholars—men of the stamp of Professor Lonnsbury and Professor Skeat. If tho slight changes in the spelling of tho 500 words proposed wholly or partially meet popular approval, tlien tlio changes will become permanent, without any reference to what public officials or individual private citizens may feel. If they do not ultimately meet with popular approval, they will'bo dropped—and that is all there is about it. Tlio changes represent nothing in tho world but a alight extension of the unconscious movement which has mado agricultural implement makers and farmers write ‘plow’ instead of ‘plough,’ which has made most Americans write ‘ honor ’ without tho absurd superfluous ‘u,’ and which is oven now making people write ‘program’ without tho ‘me,’ just as all people who spoak English now write ‘bat,’ ‘sot,’ ‘dim,’ ‘sum,’ and ‘fish,’ instead of tho Elizabethan ‘batte,’ ‘sette,’ ‘ dim mo,’ ‘ smnme,’ and ‘ fyshe ’; which makes us write ‘public,’ ‘almanac.’ ‘ era,’ ‘ fantasy,’ and ‘ wagon ’ instead of the ‘ publick,’ ‘almanack,’ ‘aera,’ ‘phantasy,’ and ‘ waggon ’ of our great-grandfathers. —Like Shakespeare Spelled.— “It is not an attack upon the language of Shakespeare and Milton, becauso m some instances it is a going back to the forms they used, and in others merely tbo extension of changes, which, as regards other words, havo taken place since their time. It is not an attempt to do anything far.

deed anything great at all. It is merely ai attempt to cast what slight weight can properly be cast on the side of the popular forces which are endeavoring to make onr spelling a little less foolish and fantastic.” [A cablegram on Saturday advised that tho President had withdrawn his letter to tho Government Printer.—Ed. E.S.] THE POST OFFICE AND MAH, FRAUDS.

Postmaster-General Cortelyon is doing a good work by pushing a vigorous campaign against the criminal abuse of tho mans. During tho past year 600 persons, natural and artificial, real and unreal, havo been either effectively prohibited or convicted for violations of the United States Fraud Order Law. Tho number and diversity of these convictions arc startling.' Fakirs, swindlers, charlatans, medical quacks, criminal practitioners, financial gamblers, purveyors of worthless nostrums, moral perverts, propaganders of false religions, false science, erotic literature, social .vampires, and unscrupulous adventurers all use the beneficent privilege of tho mails to promote their nefarious trade. Mining Stock Frauds.—Gold, silver, and copper mines accidentally discovered in some out-of-the-way place, for which a large amount of ready money is needed to develop tho property. A small amount of tho stock is offered to tho public, on which immense dividends are guaranteed. Medical frauds, usually perpetrated through mails, take two forms—(l) a specific drug or remedy; (2) tho selfexalted specialist, never failing, specifies for all ills of body or mind, and particularly strong on chronic and incurable diseases. Work at homo schemes that wish to employ women and children in soma light work at home that will bo very profitable. To qualify for which it is necessary for tho victim to advance a little money for a machine and materials. When tho victim pays the price, their work is generally rejected as being not up to the standard. Plantation Swindles.—Claim is made of ownership of largo areas of land often located in Mexico, or other tropical country, where everything good grows spontaneously. Stocks and bonds are issued on tbo instalment plan, accompanied by an agreement that the company will, when the stock is fully paid, execute a deed for a stipulated number of acres. Some of these operators are now serving a term in tho Massachusetts State prison. Occult Science Frauds.—These include hypnotists, astrologers,* soothsayers, mental healers, necromancers, clairvoyants, mindreaders, palmists, and a whole tribe of potty venrrin that infest the dark alleys and dingy rooms of every city. Matrimonial agencies, who havo a young, beautiful, cultured, and wealthy client, who must marry within a specified time, to comply with the terms of a rich uncle’s will. Tho booker who offers to get money for business concerns. Tho real estate man who charges a fee for letting real estate. Tho woman-healer and for-tune-teller. The publisher who offers illustrated books of very questionable morality by mail under close cover. These are but a fow types of mail order swindles, now well recognised, suppressed, bat likely to turn up in some new form at any time. The Post Office Department is on the look-out for them. Stop their mails and prosecute the offenders whenever caught, and the evidence is clear. OUR JAPANESE IMMIGRANTS.

The School Boards of San Francisco have taken steps to exclude the Japanese children from the public schools, but offer to provide separate schools for them. This tbo Japanese poonle resent as an insult, implying that they are regarded by tho American people as an inferior race. Tho Government at Tokio have mado this a matter of diplomatic correspondence. Flushed with the greatest national victory of modern times, the island Empire is in no meek mood. Every ten days a Pacific mail steamer lands upon our western shore from 900 to 1,200 Japanese coolies. Unchecked, this may soon mean a Japanese labor problem far more formidable and dangerous than the Chinese question ever was. Japanese exclusion is to bo considered only with duo weight given to tho probability of wax, Wc must put Japan on a level with Germany or Great Britain, with the added incentive of caution. The time is coming when statesmanship and patience alike may bo taxed to tho utmost to find a peaceful solution of the difficulty.AMERICAN GIRLS AND FOREIGN TITLES. Nothing apparently stirs such widespread interest among Americans as the occurrence of an international wedding, and yet there arc few of those who revel in the romance of the affair that are not better situated for real happiness in the plain American homo. American heiresses who havo traded themselves and their money for foreign titles ought to serve as a warning. Anna Robinson, with £IOO,OOO, married Lord Rosslyn, lost him and her money by separation; Helen Morton brought to the Due de Valency £20,000, who neglected her; Florence Drouillard gave Count Bernard do Pqurtatis £IOO,OOO, and then separated ; Elizabeth Curtis gave to the Due de Dino £IOO,OOO, and he afterwards divorced her. He got Mrs Frederick Stevens and £1,400,000, and they were also divorced. Isabel Bunor got Baron Brousart Von Schwellendorf for £200,000, and they separated. Lord Lindsay got £200,000 with Isabel Tucker; they were divorced. Miss Edith Van Burn brought Count Castlemanard £IOO,OOO, Lilian May brought Lord William Bagot £IOO,OOO, Julia Mackay brought Prince Colonna £IOO,OOO, Mavcr Irene Fusz brought) Count Benaloza £IOO,OO0 —all of whom are cither separated or divorced. Count Boni de Castellan pot £5,000,000 with Anna Goidd, and tho Duke of Marlborough got £6,000,000 with Consuelo Vanderbilt. Both girls are having bad luck. This is only a partial list ; there are doubtless many more. It Is the general belief in tliis country that ambition rather than love promotes these matches between American money and European tulles. But it is usually assumed that a girl making such an alliance would obtain a gentleman for a husband, and should have tho assurance of personal respect and consideration. But oven in this they have been too oilen mistaken. SPURNS BRITISH TITLE.

Mr R. R. Carew, a natty agent in Los Angeles, California, is an heir to an English earldom, but spurns it, preferring to bo an American lord and live by his own efforts. Carew and his father fell out, and tho young accepted a, small sum to pay his passage to America, and came away, never to correspond with his family. That was thirty-two years ago. He left behind two brothers older than himself, and, realising that his position as the youngest son would never bo an important one, ho went to work to seo what ho could do for himself. Ho says he tried to become a journalist under the direction of Horace Greeley, but failed. He finally drifted into the real estate business, where, he has made his money. The event that brought Mr Carew to Southern California was as picturesque as the other incidents of his life. Ho was a resident of Chicago when the Cuban war broke out, and enlisted with tlie first regiment of that city. In tho charge up San Juan Hill Carew reached the third wire fence from tbo top, and fell there with a bullet wound in his leg. He was slow to recover in Chicago, and so came West. While ho was living quietly here, he says, his sister has made two trips from England to this country in search of him and has advertised widely. He has agreed to go bade to see her in a few days, so that some steps can bo taken to settle tho affairs of the estate, but ho says he will return to America at once. The new carl of Carew lost 30,000d0l in the Dreyer Bank failure in Chicago, and was once a State senator for Michigan. OUR LIEUTENANT PEARY AND THE NORTH POLK Despatches from the Far North from Lieutenant Peary announce that he is on his way home defeated in his attempt to reach the North Pole, but that he reached 87.06—200 miles from the Pole. He had left his ship and made a dash on sledges until he came to open sea, which compelled his return. The previous record for the point nearest the Polo was mado by Captain Cagni, of the Duke Abnizzi’s Italian expedition, who reached 86.34 north, or-'-w810aj337.

Pole." The history of .Arctic exploration has been one of progress. The 200 miles which remain to be crossed may seem trifling, but the transportation of sustenance is a problem that handicaps every step. Equal to the record mode by Peary is the fact that ho did not lose a man. Eight dogs were killed and eaten. Science and skill are making Arctic exploration safer, leaving to courage and determination the overcoming of a tedious task that many persons consider hardly worth the peril, labor, ami expense involved. THE PALL ELECTIONS. Elections were held in forty-two States on the 6th inst., and while the results in some instances were of unusual interest, it may bo said that generally speaking there were no great surprises. Throughout the South the usual majorities were given for Democratic nominees, while in tho Eastern and Western States the Democratic and Republican returns show no material gains. Tho Republican party will retain control of both Houses of Congress by a good working majority. Ul-TSSES. ■ Heringlon, November.