AMERICAN NEWS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13894, 4 May 1907, Page 5

AMERICAN NEWS.

RAILROAD SITUATION. THE WALL STREET PANIC. (From Our Own Correspondent.) NEW YORK, March 16. Tlio moat absorbing topic from ocean to ocean within the past fortnight has boen the railroad situation. Within lour days it reached its climax in the remarkable financial paiiio in Wall street—remarkable because, after a depreciation of 500,000,000d0l in the value of railroad sccuritios, no bank, trust company, or large banking and brokerage * house felt the strain to the extent of being compelled to announce its embarrassment. Throughout tho drop' in prices of railroad-stocks, the greater part of which wero earning heavy dividends at that very moment, tho great industrial prosperity of the country remained unchanged. For the first timo in its history a Wall street, panic of peat, dimensions made no appreciable effect upon tho condition of the happiness bf tho/ country. Back of this unusual condition rest the interesting causes that alone made it possible.

For timo past popular feeling against the great railroad corporations has been gonerally rising. Some politicians—liko Bryan (of Nebraska), Senator La Foletto (of Wisconsin), and even, it is charged, President Roosevelt himself—have fomented this feeling, the most, recent, effects of which have been the enactment of legislation by various States reducing passenger rates of faro from two and a-half and three cents a mile to two cents a mile. Immediatclv the railroad? have sought to retaliate. While their presidents have' sought to impress upon the publio mind that their properties wero lilcelv to be forced into bankruptcy by legislation that fought to reduce their incomes, their operating departments have taken oil trains, curtailed baggagechecking and other privileges, and so soueht to annoy the travelling; public in tho States where tho low passenger rates were forced upon the railroads. This etftte of upset and unrest fomented by the railroad presidents themselves has been popularly ascribed as the reason for tho recent panio in tho street, and t.ie resulting impaired railroad credit. Yet a well-defined suspicion has arisen that a personal Quarrel lietween President Roosevelt. and Edwin H. Harriman, president of the great Southern Pacific and allied systems was tho real and underling came. Harriman, who has rapidly risin as an uncrowned railroad emperor, went upon the witness stand in this city within a month, and frankly admitted certain practices in the inflation of railroad stocks and in tho acquisition of rival properties, To his testimony is accredited a portion of tho conditions that gave rise to the recent market upheaval.

.T. P. Ho.-jan, the eminent tanker, representing. Iho alarm of the railroad heads and their bunking affiliations, wont to the White Houee, Eoon after Mr Harriman's admissions had been widely heralded throughout the country, to find the cause for llr Roosevelt's apparent enmity to the railroad.". The President told Mr Morgan that he was not making war on the railroads as industrial institutions: that he was fighting railroads that persistently and brazenly broke the laws; that he intended to pursue law-breakers to the last ditch; that the duel would never end until it was proved whether the Government could check and stop lew-breaking by the railroads, or whether they, or any part of thrill. ' were above the law and power of tho American people. Mr Morgan replied that the wiser presidents of the railroads realised that they were the creatures, not the mqsters of tho Government. He declared their intention to obey the laws and fulfil the other conditions of good citizenship. President Roosevelt replied .that this was not enough. "What is tho matter, then?" asked Mr Morgan. "Harriman," was the President's answer, The Government proposes to follow him tip and expose his dealings and practices until it will be impossible for him to stand up longer against the storm of public opinion that will overwhelm liim."

Mr Moirjan then warned the President that r. continuation of the onslaught that was being made against the railroads would destroy their market values, cause a panic,

and perhaps bring- ruin fo flic whole country. The reply was that tlie President had 110 such fear for the safety of the country merely through assuring it of its right and protecting the interests of its people that tlie.ro might be a stock market panic; that the valuo of railroad securities might be impaired or destroyed. That would not alter his determination to do hi 3 duty. He was going ahead with liis work of stopping such acts as Harriman was committing. Then Mr Morgan returned to this city, with Mr ltoekfeller and oilier financiers, and helped devise .1 plan to appease the President, and to get rid of Harriman as the dominant railroad factor in the country by taking awav his control of the great Southern Pacific system. The* President, realising the fact that the country would bo plunged into a stock market panic, agreed to try tho plan, and to ceaso his scheme for an unrelenting attack upon the railroads. Mr Morgan sailed for I.ondon, where lie could be free from all appeals, and the plan was placed in execution, producing the remarkable panio of the present week. It is said that Harriman, to save his own private fortune, wa6 compelled to throw the holdings of his railroads into the market, and 60 lost control of the property that ho liad been steadily upbuilding. The retirement of -Mr Harriman is anticipated, and tho market has begun to tako an upward trend.

Yet there are prophets in the street who shake thoir heads and say that the acta of the two ambitious enemies—Roosevelt and Harriman—have dene more toward a Govcrmnenfownership of railroads, in thrco mouths than the fulminations of Mr Bryan and othor agitators in more than a 6 many years.

Still another popular forco has been working against the railroads. Tho winter that is just passing has been unusually severe throughout the United States and it has furthermore been marked by a great number of railroad accidents, each willi a large loss of life. There are persons who beliove that if tho railroad presidents spent their energy upon the improvement; of operating conditions rather than upon tho Wall street situation and tho strengthening of their competitive positions, that the betterment would bceomo marked Tho great railroads havo been spending their money, so freely and easily'earned, Within _ fcno past. 10 years upon acquiring possession of present or possible rivals rather than upon any extensive increase of trackago of terminal faoilities.

FLOOD AND FIRE. Pittsburg during- tho present, week has suffered losses aggregating 20,000, OOOdol from flood and fire. Tho oity is peculiarly built, being situate on a narrow nock of hnd which separates th© Allegheny from the Monhongahela River. They join at tho point-of this low nook to form tho Ohio, which becomes a mighty river beforo it pours its muddy waters into tho mightier Mississippi. 500 miles to the south-west. Each of the first two rivers has its hood waters in rough timber land, and tho melting of the excessive snowfall of tho , past winter made each a whirling, onrußhing flood. Each of the risers has a normal midsummer depth of sft at Pittsburg, and when one realises that and the fact that the busy down-town portion of this busy metropolis is built, upon a low, •flat neck of land, he is apt to rcaliso what' a 30ft rise in'tho river Jevels meant to Pittsburg.

The wholesale and retail sections of the city, together with those of the neighbouring Allegheny across tho river of the same name, were thrown into idleness and confusion. Street cars were the first to bo abandoned, and within fivo hours after the car tracks had disappeared from sight under tho onrush of muddy water in down-town streets good-sized craft could navigate the samo thoroughfares, and the place had a Venetian transformation. Theatres were obliged to elese, and guests in tho great dowu-town hotels wero practically marooned, access to their doors being made by skiff or other forms of small boats. These hotels had their kitchens in their basements, and the oooks were obliged to movo a large stock of canned and cold meats and vegetables to upper floors until the waters should subside.

Fortunately tho residence portion of the city is chiefly built upon the high hills that rise back of, the flatlands, and while the water rose above tho level of many of the.'steam railroad tracks and so further paralysed traffic, it did not reach the homo districts of the citv. That fact in itself is regarded as the chief rea-son that loss of life in the flood did not exceed 20 pensons. While the water was at its highest two severe' fires broke out in different portions of tho city, at tho same hour. The firemen, tired' after working for hours with tlioir engines in attempts to pump out flood water from basements and' cellars and demoralised by the crippled water 6upply of the flood-ridden city, fought '•ainly. In tho end a resort was made to dynamite, and by this means the fire was stopped, although not until tho damage from the two conflagrations had aggregated 1,000.000d01. • Cincinnati and Louisville, further down the Ohio, are also built, as fn.r as their commercial centres are concerned, on the low river banks, and already these two cities are watching with anxiety tho rising water at the gauges along their levels. A similar feeling of dread is beginning to alarm every resident upon the flat ranks of the Lower O'.iio and the Mississippi. DEATH OF DOWIE. The death of John Alexander Dowio thisi week in tho religious community that ho founded in tho outskirts of Chicago aroused little sorrow, even among his own little llocl;. He-died as he lived, raving and cursing all who crossed him in tho slightest degree. By persuading a certain class of ignorant persons that he had healed them by prayer ho won their gratitude; by inducing them to invest in real estate and his other ventures ho won their money. After having them, .heart and soul and pocket-book, he rowarded them with a variety of sonsations. He composed an elaborate ritual, he attacked and fought the newspapers, he built a city (as he chose to eall it), founded a bank. a. religions weekly, and a lace-weaving industry, and lipallv clothed himself with a number of religious offices of his own devising. Chicago and tho West Bfiomcd fairly impressed—amused, perhaps—by this colossal fakir, and his fuiances prospered much. Then lie decided to come to New York, and his arrival was preceded V the leasing of tho great auditorium of Afadison Square Garden—upon the roof of which Harry K. Thaw shot end killed Stanford White, —and a volume of ridicule which the New York newsnapers turned uoon him. That last was too much for him. His expenses mounted, and no converts with bulir'nrr pockets eamo to join his ranks. After that his financial downfall came, his mental' powers waned, a rival was appointed his successor in his high positions, his family deserted him, and ho diod forgotten ant! forlorn. MILK SUPPLY. An interesting controversy has arisen in this city over the condition of its miJk supply. The fact is admitted that impure milk has raised the. oity's death rato, and the issue lies between thoBC who believo in pasteurising piratically the entire milk supply and those who advocato othor methods of purifying. In pasteurising milk it is raised to a temperature of from 155 to 167 degrees to kill all germs, kept at that heat for from 20 to 30 minutes, and then reducod to 50dcg. This process is alleged to be accurato and effective in killing tho minuto organisms which cause scarlet fevor, diphtheria, tulierculosis, and typhoid fever, and which are easily conveyed ill milk. For some summers past Mr Nathan Straus, a wealthy merchant, has maintained stands in the park, -where pasteurised milk is sold at a penny a glass, and this has popularised the product. 110 is behind the p'resont movement, which, if successfully placed into legislation, will result, in it. boing practically impossibe for any persons in the oitj, except the very woll-to-do, to buy raw milk. Rich persons are not apt to buy milk from any savo tho finest and best protected dairies. I On the other hand, it is asserted that wholesale pasteurisation is not nearly as effectivo as the pasteurisation on a smaller BCalo that has been so successful in connection with the park stands, and which is being used as an example of successful results by thos3 who arc most ardently advocating the' Pasteur method. Tlioir opponents in the discussion point to the example of Rochester, N.Y., a progressive manufacturing city, of 200,000 population, which lias been blessed with an unusually energetic Health Commissioner. That smaller city has already abandoned pasteurisation of milk, but has greatly reduced its death rate by makinig a careful insec-t-ion of farms, dairies, creameries, processes of transportation, and milk shops, coupled with a systematic education of producers anil consumers. Following expert advice a body of citizens, calling itself the Xew York Milk Committee, organised under the auspices of the New York Association for Improving the Conditions of tho Poor, is opposing the plan for general pasteurisation, and is advocating, instead, an immediate increase in active and efficient State inspection of cattle and condemnation of tuberculous cows, an enlargement of tho foroe of eitv milk inspectors to keep the fanners and dealers up to high standards, tho establishment by tho city, with t£o aSi ■■si- srixata piikniltppy, pf milk dspst^

like the SI raus depots, where tho mother can obtain, at no special cost, milk properly prepared to suit tho needs of her child, and can receive what is even more important—adviro and help. To such dopots tho mothers will come. That has already boon proven. Out of tho plans of alt these ardent reformers some practical relief is bound to come, and it is predicted that thousands of babies already doomed to dio shall live. That is the prediction and the promise that bolli sides to an interesting controversy unite in making. RUKAT GIFTS TO TUB NATION* Tlie gift of 10.000.000d0l from Mrs Rus* sell lo bo used in ameliorating the condition of the poor throughout the country, following closely upon tho gift of 32,l)00,C00dol by Mr John D. Rockefeller to tho cause of higher education, has excited a national interest. Although the institution which is to devise this great charity and see to the distribution of its ineomo has not yet been incorporated, many appeals have already been made upon its generosity. Mrs Sage has intimated that this is but the first of her great gifts to the nation; in fact, she has practically promised her entire fortune of 70,000,0G0d0l to the relief of struggling and needy institutions of education and charity throughout the -country. BALOOX TRIAL. Although tho date set is in tho middle of October and afar off, interest becomes moro acute in tho great baloou trial and race that is to bo held.at St. Louis. Entries are coming in from all portions, of the world, and it is thought that no less than 30 or 40 airships will riso on tho . appointed day. An effort is to bo -mado to reach this city—l2oo miles across country —or some other point along tho Atlantio seaboard. Such a daring trip was attempted as long ago as 1859, and four hardy skypilots swung from tho same old town of St. Louis across the f;reat lakes north, east, and north-cast until they dropped tho anchor of their baloon iti a forest in Northern New York, none tho worso for the trip. They covered more than 1100 miles in loss than 21} hours, and it will bo a hard feat for the aeronauts of October, 1907, to reduce tho record made upon that great trip of half a century ago.