SUMMARY BY MAIL

New Zealand Mail, 21 February 1901, Page 59

SUMMARY BY MAIL

DEATH OF A MILLIONAIRE. COMMERCIAL WARFARE. PHILIPPINE AFFAIRS. THE SITUATION IN CHINA. (Per R.M.S. Sonoma, at Auckland.) SAN FRANCISCO, January 24. Mr Philip D. Armour, philanthropist and multi-millionaire as head of a great commercial establishment, is dead. Mr Armour passed away at his home in Chicago on January 6th, the oaue of death being an affection of the heart, following an attack of pneumonia. He expected death, and had declared he was ready for it. The funeral services were held in the Armour Mission, established by Mr Armour, and were largely attended, especially by employees and people in humble circumstances, in whom Mr Armour always took a live ly interest, and whose lot it was his pleasure to brighten in many ways. The sudden death from pneumonia of his son and namesake was a blow from which the elder Armour could not recover, and his hold on life and its interests has gradually relaxed since that death occurred a year ago. The house of Armour is immensely wealthy. The meat-packing department alone does an anhqal' business of a hundred million dollars. There is also a grain busineiss Of half that amount, always conducted by payment of cash, and Mr Armour was practically the owner of a great railway system. He was intensely American, and was sixty-eight years old. His widow, son and grandchildren are his heirs.

Much interest is evinced in a patent which makes telephoning long distances simple. The American Telephone and Megraph Company has bought the patents of Dr H. L. Pupin, of Columbia College. The rights cover the art of ocean telephone, and (include devices for sending messages over any length of land lines. It has been given out that the price paid was two hundred thousand 1 dollars, with an annuity of seven thousand five hundred dollars additional. The new method permits the use of conductors of relatively small diameter, covered with insulating wire of moderate thickness, thfctys much lessening the expense formerly necessary in the contrncfciou of long underground circuits . The plan for the trans-At lantic cable shows the induction coils to be placed at proper intervals, permitting telephonic conversation to he heard across the AtlanticThe United States Government and the American newspapers have accused Minister Conger of undue severity in his dealings with the Chinese, but Pekin correspondents write to London that he is there regarded as specially lenient. President McKinley addressed an identical note to the Powers requesting the negotiations as to the indemnities, and new treaties with China to be removed to some other place than Pekin. This roused suoh opposition on the part of Germany that the President thought it wise to withdraw the note. It appears,

therefore, that Germany has succeeded in keeping the indemnity question to credit. It is said to be the opinion of all diplomats that if the question of indemnity be not removed from Pekin nothing can prevent the carving up of China. The proposal of the United States that' the indemnity question be re ferred to an International Commission was not only objected to by Germany, but was, it is whispered, not agreeable tc Lord Salisbury. Japan, is said to be most indignant because of the atrocities committed in China by the soldiers of some of the allied Powers.

The newspapers publish daily articles strongly condemning'the brutality and license which have reigned for months in China. Serious reflections are cast upon Christianity, which the Japanese claim does not withhold the Russians frcm committing crimes which the pagan Japanese are ashamed even to witness. One paper at Tokio says : —“The Russians have become devils, and the voice of God is drowned by the thunder of artillery.” In many shops are pictures showing Europeans murdering children, knocking down women, and assaulting old men, while the Japanese are represented bestowing gifts and benedictions upon the kneeling Chinese people. Horrible details of the crimes of the .Russians and French are published, and it is claimed that the Japanese troops behaved best, with the English and Americans next. The English were well disciplined, except some Indians, who were unable to resist the temptation to loot.

The Earl of Rosebery, responding to a toast at the annual banquet of the Wolverhampton Chamber of Commerce, spoke of the “great commercial warfare being waged against England,” saying the chief rivals to be feaied are the United States and Germanv. The Americans, with their vast and almost incalculable resources, their acuteness and enterprise, and' their huge population, which will probably be one hundred million in twenty years, together with the plan th.ey have adopted for putting their accumulated wealth into great co-operative syndicates, or trusts, for the carrying on of this great commercial warfare, are perhaps the most formidable. The Americans are scarcely satisfied with gigantic individual fortunes. They use these_by combination to make of capital a power vouch, wielded by one or two minds, is almost irresistible, and if this power is concentrated against Great Britain in trade warfare it will be a danger we cannot afford to disregard. A trust of many millions might compete with, any trade in England, underselling all her products at considerable loss. This is the possible outcome of the immediate future. A curious i eat me —it I may say so without impertinence —seems to be that in combination with a faculty for the acquisition of money, there is complete contempt for money, except as u means of making more, and for power. These millionaires are often men of humble lives, whose simple rule is to accumulate enough to acquire power. England, in order to withstand international competition, inust thoroughly educate her youth, 'and I would suggest sending hatches of young men abroad to learn the best our rivals know.”

Senator Spooner has given notice that before the close of the present session he will press for the adoption of a resolution for the appointment of a Joint Committee of the two Houses to go to the Philippines and investigate the conditions there. Among the Republican leaders there is anxiety regarding the conditions in the Philippines, and it is felt to be extremely difficult to get reliable information even in regard to matters of the _ gravest importance to the administration of affairs in the islands. The Republicans have) been unable to get a contradiction even of the assertion that the Taft Commission promulgated a law condemning to two years’ imprisonment any Filipino who shall refuse to serve in an office to which he had been appointed by the Commission. The Republican Senators appealed to the War Department for a denial of such a charge, but were unable to get satisfaction.

It has also been impossible to gain positive information regarding- the Crown lands of Spain in the Philippines. It is known that these are of great extent and value, and should be in possession of the United States, but it seems impossible to gain information from the Paris Peace Commission, to which the Comgressmen have appealed for facts bearing on the matter. The administration by the War Department appears to have its drawbacks, and it is likely a Congressional Committee will be appointed, as proposed in the United States Senate. Senator Teller has presented a memorial “ from 2006 Filipinos and peaceful inhabitants of Manila.” The memorial was in the form of an appeal to Congress, and Mr Teller stated that it was signed by the leading people of Manila and in that section were lawyers, bankers and professional men. It reviewed the circumstances leading up to the present struggle for independence, and paid a high tribute to Aguinaldo and his coadjutors in their work of endeavouring to obtain liberty and independence for the people of the Philippines. The memorial will have no weight other than to provoke discussion and perhaps increase the chances of aotual investigations as to the conditions and necessities of the people in the islands.

Consideration of the Army Reorganisation Bill in the United States Senate brought out- the fact that in the opinion of many Senators a war between the, country and some foreign Power is not regarded as outside the range of probabilities. , “We wall be fortunate,” said Senator Daniels, “if we extricate ourselves from the complications we have got into in the Orient without needing an army of one hundred' thousand men.'’ A bitter fight was waged as to the propriety of giving the President power to increase the army, and Senator Bacon said: “I think we have fallen upon an evil day when a Senator can rise in his place in this Chamber and sajp that objection to giving the President power to raise large armies is uncalled for. Senators may scoff at it, but it is nevertheless a march to Empire. It is a great revolution to propose to eliminate for all time the volunteer system of our army, which this country has depended on since the beginning of its history, and to establish in its place a system of large standing armies.