OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

Otago Witness, Volume 11, Issue 2159, 11 July 1895, Page 29

OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

(Fbom Oob Own Cobbesfondent.) San Fbancisco, April 6. SOCIAL AND POLIIICAL.

Most of the State Legislatures have adjourned, thank God I At least this is the pious exclamation of many an honest editor, heartsick at contemplation of the doings of the gangs of rascals who have » peculiar knack in getting themselves returned to Parliament instead of to the penitentiary. Speaking on the California Legislature the Examiner said if all btibers and oorrupters had been excluded it would have been impossible to keep together a quorum for the 'necessary conduct of business. This appears to be borne out when ib is considered bovrone Senator, from bio seat in the chamber, affirmed that » " combine" for the purpose of defeating and creating legislation existed in the Senate, and that its members were to receive 8000dol each for their services! The cartoons make "no bones" about the matter. They simply represent the capitol as "Boodle Hall," and the members as pocketing the coin. In the Indiana Legislature we had a free-for-all fight. The Governor wanted his veto to 'atand on certain measures, and iustruoled his secretary not to hand in his message until within a few minutes.' of the legal expirat : on of the cession. This would - prevent the House carrying measures so vetoed over the veto. However, the plan did not work. Tho secretary started to retch the Speaker, and was at once surrounded by tbe lepresentatives of the brave and the free. One party wanted hini'to get there and the other didn't. Result : Secretary nearly killed. Bleeding and bruised he at last reached the chair, only to be again kicked,' actually and liter ally, away, and to hear the roar, " House stands adjourned." In Nebraska the members were nearly as bad, one obstreperous legislator being silenced by another legislator pulling at his beard and wrenching it until he winced with pain and resumed his seat. Of the business done iv each Houses it is folly to speak. Most of the bills introduced are what are termed " cinch bills "—" — i.e., bills timed at some paiticular interests, and which interests will send up representatives to bribe the legislators not to proceed with the measures. Therefore, we cannot wondtr at the sigh of thankfulness the adjournment of such Heuses occasions in the hearts ot every dtceut citizen. In Chicago and other cities and States the municipal and other elections resulted in the complete deftat of tie Democratic party. Mayor Hopkins, a man Stead thought much of, was retired, his policy condemned, and he personally douounced as the chief boodler of all the boodlers the City Hall ever held. The early part of the menth witnessed the slaughter of a few^'negroes and the terrorising of the entire city of New Orleans by large and armed bodies o? .white labourers. The quays were swept bare of the nigger and showers of •hot ponred in upon bales of merchandise and likely hiding places. In the riot a British sailor was killed, but the authorised representatives of England did not go into hysterics, believing the authorities were quite competent to defend life and tender proper redress. rUBLIC SCHOOLS IN MANITOBA. What may ultimately prove to be the first blow at the stability of the Canadian Federation was struck when the Dominion Government issued a remedial order calling upon the Provincial Government of Manitoba to restore to the Reman Catholics "their parochial or separate schools as they existed prior to 1890. It was addressed to tho Lieutenant-governor, and by him was transmitted to the Legttlatare, which was sitting in readiness to receive it. The document was voluminous and reviewed all the evidence taken before the Privy Council of Ei gland, which body declared that the Catholics of Manitoba had a grievance and that the Dominion Government had the power and authority to grant redress by a remedial order. The tenor and language of the order leave no opening for compromise. It is a command to Manitoba to submit, and plainly says that if the Legislature does not obey the Dominion Governmt-nfc will enforce its authority. No definite action was taken by the Legislature on the date of its reception ; it was read and then laid on the table for future consideration. How the Dominion Government would eeek to cccompli-ih its purpose, in the probable event of Manitoba refusing to obey its order, is by way of a federal enactment relieving Roman Catholic taxpayers in that province from local taxation for public schools, giving them power to levy rates on their own people for their own schools, and retaining from the subsidy pay&ble by the Dominion to the province under the terms of union a certain proportion which it will hand to the Roman Catholic school boards as a supplement to the funds raised by its own local taxation. In the meantime the matter rests. Premier Greecway made a statement to a packed house on the 28th ult., and said, in view of the serious nature of the questions involved, the Government proposed to .ask for time in order that every phase might be thoroughly considered, and whilst no change whatever was possible in their position in respect to national schools for all and no separate schools, an adjournment to May 9 was deemed advisable. The requott was carried amid loud and general _ cheering. So the cate stands afc this hour of writing. The serious nature of the issues surrounding the crisis is apparent. It is a'most cettain Manitoba will 'not recede from her position. This province stands for State rights as against Federal interference, and for free, unsecfcaiian, broadly intellectual schools as against the narrow prejudices, the old-time bigotries, the outworn superstitions of a dead and bygone age, and for such schools will fight if necessary. And the fight must come some day. Such a political institution as the Church of Rome will not let go her hold on the mind of the child without a struggle. Everyone foresees the conflict, and most people say the sooner it cornea the better. It will come in Canada, and it will come in the United States, and it will come in the Australasian colonies. The good-natured tolerance and indifference of largo nutebsrs of easy-going men and women who don't want to be bothered, and of a fairsized portion of the press, to the most glaring attacks upon their public school system must one day give place to a more determined and resolute front ; and when that day does come, I feel tolerably certain the outcome will be the permanent supremacy of that system which seeks on the broadest I',1 ', most generous, and comprehensive plan to train the young of every tongue and nationality into one homogeneous whole, free for all time from the everlasting and soul-degrading bickerings of the past — for are we not children of the one All- Father ? UTBKABY. NOTES. At this time of writing tho best known novelist in this city is Fergus Hume. The Examiner is publishing every Sunday several chapters of a detective story by this gentleman, and the p&per in puffing its own wares is Ceforring to Fergus Hume in terms that would

hardly be acceptable to the ordinarily modest man. Mr Hume is described as " the literary sensation of the century's end," " the famous writer," " the man who has caught the attention of two continents," and " the author of ' The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.' " " But," BS7B bqe Examiner, " ' The Mjßtery of a Hansom C*b ' is a simple complication compared with the plot of 'The Third Volume,' Hume's greatest work. It is weird, thrilliDg, absorbing," &c, &0., all of which goes to prove that should any one ever have nn order to write a yarn for an American paper he or she need not fear that their name , and fame will be insufficiently heralded. As the tale also iuns in the Toronto Globe and other papers, Hume will be makiog, I »m glad to say, a good sum of money out of it. Writing for a syndicate seems to be the most successful plan nowadays. The tale itself deals with a father, son, and mother. The father wa9 murdered years before the tale opens, and tha mother accused of the crime, but acquitted. The question is : Who murdered my father ? for, by God's help, I masn to find him, or her ! Personally, living in a oity whose papers reek with crime every day of the week, and where 30 murders are committed annually, and being in a State whore 150 murders happpn every year, and in a country where 9000 deeds of blood blot the brightness of the sun or muoa every 365 days, I cannot, under evuh conditions and within such an environment, follow auy murder yarn with a great degree of intereat. The subject maUor is trite ; the incentive insufficient. Nor can I altogether understand what interest murder tiles can have for others whatever ; but then people differ. Apart from this, Hame's work is just as good as any other yarn of a like kind, and just as well told. May he wade in blood till fortune crones him ! The " Trilby" craze is still with us. Future historians of our social life will regard it as we regard tha plagues of Eg>pt. It is unaccountable and unjustifiable, although, to give Dv Maurier his due, he himself is surprised at the success of his work. Meantime, we have, iv addition to "Trilby" teis and conversaziones and concerts, the dry-goods stores advertising "Trilby" gloves, and "Trilby" shades, and S3 on. Then "Trilby" has been brought into the living picture business, and somebody poses as "Trilby" every night to admiring crowds — not, I believe, as "the altogether," although they are not above that, if it comes to the pinch. But, as though all this were not sufficient, " Trilby " has bsen dramitised, and the play produced, and with great succecs, and the critics b»i'k Eaot say it contains one of the most poweifal secrets known to the drama. Sj the "boom" is being worked in splendid style — in fact it would seem as though some others, in addition to the fortunate or unfortunate — as you view it — author, "stood in" for a shnra of the profits. The play deals mora with Scengali, emphasising his hypnotic powers over Triiby, than does tho book ; whilst Taffy, the Laird, and Little Billee — "Silly Billy," Ambrose Bicree terms him — are subordinated. Nor is th ! s all. In " M'Clure's Mag»z : ne" for this month we hava an interview with Dv Maurier, and sketches of his life and home, and 100,000 copies of the magazine are to be published to meet the expected demand ! Lastly, someone in Boston has discovered a book called "Trilby, the Fairy of Argyle," by Charles Nodier, of the French Academy, wrihten in 1820 and published in 1822, and which was widely rev) at the time. This work was rushed after by five publishing houses, and translated and published eight days from, its discovery 1 I have sumcient'y poor an opinion of Dv Maurier's " Trilby " to think any intelligent man of the world could have written it without resorting to plagiarism, and this ssems to be tb.9 general vien. I look upon Dv Maurier as a very, very lucky man. SOCIAL GOSSIP. We have had several distinctly interesting little morsels to discuss since the GouldCastellane wedding. This 'last is a matter of history. The bride is lost; she has b come merged, so to speak, in the glorious effulgence that radiates from an old crest, an old house, and an old name. True it was a little painful to read, as we all did read, that those elaborate gowns of which we heard so much could not possibly be worn this searon by the Cuuntess j Castellane, owing to some one of the many ! relatives of the noble husband having, most ! inopportunely, decided to quit the aristocracy of Paris for a more refined sphere in the obher world. This means monrning, and consequently the submergence of the new countess, for next season she will be no longer a sensation, other stars will have amen in the firmament of the Faubourg Sb. Germain, and her glory will, ere it has arisen, have departed. But there are compensations for the L»z\rus without the gate. We have been enabled to discuss the Vandcrbilt divorce and the Vandorbilt settlement. True, we were hardly treated fairly in thU matter. Tb.B husband made no defence, entered no counter plea, kicked up not the least bit of a shine, but let the who'e business go in a manner exa^peratingly prosy. Mrs William X.— as we all call her— obtained her decree, her Newport million-doUar palace, her town house, her furniture, pictures, &c, and her allowance of 200,000d0l per year. Per contra Willie X. — that's the way we always refer to the husband, so as to distinguish him from Cornelius Vanderbilt — obtained a lecture from the judge and his freedom. Now it will be admitted by any impartial person that when the very highest family in our plutocracy contents itself with so dull, so uninteresting, and so aggravating a settlement of wh&t ought to have been, under proper mnnftgemenr, the ■ensation of the twelve-month, the great goggleeyed public has a right to complain. Recognising this failure to meet a popular demand, the pipers searched up the records to discover who was the lady in the case, as it is not possible to secure a divorce under the New York State .laws for any other cause than one. It was found that the lady is a well-known member of the Parisian half-world, who, having met Vanderbilt at the races at Longchamps in 1894, I succeeded in doing what scores had tried in vain to do before. In other words, Miss Nellie Neustretter converted a prim, ordinary, stocky, elderly man, the father of grown-up young ladies, husband of a proud and sensitive woman, owner of one 0? the largest fortunes held by a tingle man, into a perfect fool. Vanderbilt made a complete ass of himself from the start, and elevated his companion by his wealth to a position of envy and splendour, and from which she openly flouted his wife and daughters, to whom he was -bound by every tie of honour and manhood. However, he has got her upon his hands now, and will, unless experience counts for nothing, be heartily sick of his bargain and ashamed of himself before miny months. Meanwhile, the cynic may amuse himself in estimating how many thousands are toiling and moiliog in the slums and busy haunts of New York to earn a pittance for themselves and create a surplus wherewith to bedeck and bedrape the object of Mr William K. Vanderbilt's adoration. KOTBS AND COMMENTS. Said a United States Senator in a speech on St. Patrick's Day :— •' America in particular hai

reason to ba proud of the sons of Edn. Wo sing Tom Moore's songs, weep over the ' La3t Rose of Summer,' and rejoice in Bobby Burns and tho great men of every branch of the Celtic r&ce." This appropriation of Bnrna mirks a new departure, and could be easily enlarged upon. Lillian Rutsell was called upon tho other day to eing " The star-spangled banner," and astonished her audience by saying, " I don't; know the words ; give me something easier." This from a woman who boagta of her Americanism is not bad ; bat it turned out on inquiry that not one person in the crowd of patriots who cilled for the song oould give the siuger the words. The occasion was tha opening of that absentee patriot Carnegie's gift to Piblsburg. A similar incident oocurred on board one of the American liners some years ago. Being the Fourth of July, the Americans on board naturally had ta celebrate the glorious occasion ; co after dinner and 6peech-mnking, Chauncey Depew cabled upon the assembled guests to sing " The star-spauged banner," and nob one of the whole crowd knew it. It is generally conceded that the citiei of California are nob very safe place? to live in at this time. Murderom asuiuilts, stabbing, shooting, slugging, brutal crimes, and daring daylight robbsriei aro common. There is much prote&t and declamation, but so long as judges and court} deliberately go out of their way to* protect criminals, little will orae of it. An accurate record of the present state of affairs would not be accepted as true by the m&joiity of readers. I therefore omit it. Joaquin Miller lus returned from Hawaii, fi lid with loathing and scorn for the self-con-stituted oligarchy in power there. The poet's hot shout has mude the newspaper patriots, who yelled for "the infant republic," " real mad." Governor Clarke, of Arkansas, varied the monotony of his legislative duties by spiUing in the face of State Representative Jones, and then trying to shoot him. State Representative Jones spat back, and then tried to hit the Governor. Oh ! I tell yon, sir, wo are a mighty people when you look at us in tho right light. An advocate of dresa reform in condemning her countrywomen for nob abandoning skirts in favour of rational dress said: "In New Zealand, for instance, ladies of the highest social station have taken up tha new costume, and their appearance, since the novelty has worn off, creates no surprise or deviation." In Oklahoma personal notice in divorce proceedings is unnecessary — an obscure notice in an'obscure paper, plus 90 days' residence, being sufficient to saver the " holy bond " for any cause whatsover. May 2.