OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2252, 29 April 1897, Page 54

OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

(Fhom Oun Own Correspondent.) San Francisco, March 4. THE POLITICAL WORLD.

To-day marks the inauguration of William M'Kinley as President of the United States, and all Washington i» agog with interest and excitement. M'Kinley is a popular man and will make a good President. He has few, if »ny, enemies in his own or his opponents' ranks. This ii largely due, I presume, to the facb that he is not what people are apt to term a " brilliant man." He is not a second Blame, and this, with every apology to the jingo element, is paying M'Kinley a high compliment. He is sincere, honest, reliable, and pious ; a good father, husband, and son. Nor will he he, I think, the tool of any corporation or trust, but act for the benefit, as he sees it, of the nation as a whole. Of course we are to have " tariff reform," but then he was sent to the White House to reform the tariff, eono one can object when he carries out his pledges. Certainly his promptness in calling, as he will, Congress together in special session immediately after his ascending to the chair of office contrasts more than favourably with Cleveland's moat harmful proorastination to so act when installed four short years ago. The financial and commercial history of the United State?, had Cleveland done then what his successor will do now, would have been vastly different, and much of the consequent disaster avoided. However ?

Of the business accomplished by the fiftyfourth Congress — the which passes into history at noon to-day — the less said the better. Over one billion dollars have been spent, and in the House alone 10,400 bills and 3100 resolutions were introduced. The majority of these were silly, and the still vaster number wera relegated to that obscurity from which they ihould never have emerged. The following were the ones of any importance whatever, and a glance will suffice to prove the insignificance of the outcome to so much labour :—

The enactment into law of the bills creating the commission to determine the true divisional line between Venezuela and British Guiana. Prohibiting prize-fighting in the territories. Permitting appointments in the army and navy of former United States officers who served in the rebellion.

Making one year's residence in a territory necessary to obtain a divorce. Incorporating the National Society of the Daughters of the Revolution. Denning the penalty for interfeience with railway trains and persons riding thereon. Substituting salaries for fees to United States marshals and district attorneys.

It would hardly appear worth while for an unfortunate country to pay so much for so little, although we are perhaps better off than Tiad the whole 10,400 feecome embodied in the statute books of the nation.

The usual amount of puffery was indulged in by press writers as to the greatness of the position M'Kinley is called npou to fill, but I was really surprised to read theway in which so able »n,d prominent » man as ex-Senator Ingalls referred to the powers of the new President. He wrote :

This evening one act in the great drama of his life closes abruptly by his departure for Washington. As I saw him this afternoon, standing amid the confusion of his dismantled home, it aeemed incredible that, within three days, this unpre tentious private citizen would he invested, by a few simple phrases, with greater personal powers than those possessed by any monarch of iiuiope except the Sultan and Czar. In his hands.will be

the issues of peace and war. of life and death ; the welfare or adversity of 70,000.000 people, and, indirectly, of the whole civilised world. No divinity hedged about him ; no guard or sentinel barred the entrance to the simple precincts of the man who, next Thursday, can order a fleet to Havana and issue a proclamation that would make nations quake and monarchs tremble in their capitals.

It would be interesting to know what kind of a proclamation any United States President could issue "that would make nations quake and monarchs tremble in. their capitals." Such high falutin is ridiculous and unworthy of any ■erious writer.

So far as Cuba is concerned, M'Kinley's policy will be along the same lines as those of Cleveland. He will not recognise the insurgent?, he will not grant them belligerent rights, he will not declare for Cuban independence of Spain, bub he may probably look after American citizens in the island a little better than the present Administration, according to the newspapers, has.

If we can belieTe — which we can't — all the press tells us, then the lot of an American citizen in Cuba is truly desperate. The stars and stripes shelters them not one jot. Imprisonment, outrage, torture, and death would Feem to be their lot ; so much so, in truth, that Consul-general Lee, despairing of enlisting the Administration to help him, was reported to have resigned in utter disgust. Secretary Olney denied this report. The newspapers persisted in their assertions, but the fact remains that Lac is still in Cuba. The widely-circulatsd and blood-curdling account of Dr Ruiz's murder does not appear to be verified. The result of the inquiry, subscribed to by Spanish and American doctors, was a verdicb of " Death from natural causes," but our pressmen still call the death a "foul murder," and persist in the charge with the same emphasis that they did when charging that Maceo was assassinated under the shelter of a flag of truce. Nor ought it to be forgotten that Sanquilly, pardoned at the instance of the United States, publicly stated that during his two years' imprisonment he had been treated with every courtesy and consideration by the Spanish officials, which is quite at variance with all I read as to the life of prisoners in Cuba.

The International Arbitration Treaty was nob approved by the Senate. Sherman tried every reasonable means to bring the measure to a direct vote, but without success. Nor does it matter much. The committee bad so emasculated and altered and rearranged the original treaty that, even had the Senate approved it in its new form, England would never have agreed to it. Many Senators plainly declared they wanted no treaty; that Eoglaud would be the gainer and the United States the loser ; thai, beiDg a peace-loving nation, arbitration could be resorted to whenever occasion demanded ; that war was not at all times and in every event unworthy or barbarous — nay ! it was the reverse ; that England was oar traditional enemy and we should beware of overtures from her, _ and, therefore, such general treaty was a3 unwise as unnecessary. Whether the new Administration will take the matter up afresh I cannot say, but there is without doubt a large and influential number oE persons opposed to the idea in any form.

With Cleveland's policy in relation to Hawaii, Venezuela, and Cuba I am in sympathy, though it is but fair to state I am nearly the only pereon in the United Statsß who so believei. But the king is dead — Long live the king!

butlee's extradition

has not, at this hour of writing, been granted, bat all the paperg in connection therewith have, after »a examination extending ovee three

weeks, been forwarded by the United Sfcate3 Commissionerhere to the proper authorities at Washington, "it is hardly possible, therefore, for Butler, alias Ashe, alias Harwood, alias some half a dozen other names, to be shipped by the present steamer. We shall be honoured by his presence some few weeks longer. Bub Butler as a drawing card is no longer "in it." He barely lasted the proverbial nine days. The papers and fickle public exploited him for all he was worth in much less time. During the first week of his enforced residence among us he was the hero of the day. Hundreds and thousands, by "the courtesy of the police," as the newspapers had it, were permitted to enter the gaol and gaze their fill of . the brute as he sat sullen, indifferent, or smirking behind the bars. Large numbers waited in line for hours in the pouring rain until their turn came to pass the gates. One enterprising firm paid Butler 150 iol 1 for ■ a brief speech in the phonograph, another gave him a new pair of shoes for his old ones, and exhibited these in his store window for the delectation of admiring, open-mouthed, goggle-eyed thousands ; another secured his old hat and belt for ft like consideration, and one alert personage offered the police lOOOdol for permission to exhibit Butler for one week ! The brute made money very rapidly. He wrote and sold his signature in any form, or name, for 50c each to eager onlookers, and when called away from his tt\\ on busineis his cell mate continued the work, and wrote the names and sold them at a merry pace to the deluded fools who cried for mementoes. Then the pres* paid him large sums for authentic details of his past life, and from which it appears he h&s had as many names as he has fingers, and served as soldier, sailor, and well nigh every other occupation. However, he was soon exhausted as a mine of news or object of interest. The Corbett-Fitzaimmons contest has relegated him to the background, and as his career will shortly be laid bare to the dwellers in the far south, at nearer range, it is unnecessary to detail it here. Personally, I think him a very ordinary, vulgar kind of brute, and as destitute of "romance" as he is of morals.

THIS BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP.

Judging solely from the newspapers — those infallible reflectors of the public conscience — the supreme matter before the public is neither the Cretan nor Cuban questions, nor the policy of the nexb Administration, but the forthcoming contest in the town of Carson, State of Nevada, between Corbett and Filzsimmons for the fistic championship of the world. Of course outsiders may demur to the accuracy of this statement, but I am afraid the amount of evidence in support thereof is of so overwhelming a nature as to place its truth beyond cavil. If our papers here devote a couple of columns to Greece and three columns to Cuba, we atone nobly for this prodigality by giviag all the way from 12 to 20 columns to the champion pugs. All the great newspapers throughout the Union have had for a tortnight past, and will maintain them for another couple of weeks, offices and a large staff of specials and artists in the happy town of Carson. The public that is supposed to crave hungrily for this form of iutellecfcual and moral diet is deluged to surfeiting. We are told what the two men wear, what they eat, and what they drink. Their uprisings and downsittings are detailed with painful particularity. There is not an article of dress or furniture, cob a pose of principals or trainers, nob a room in their quarters, not a word from tlieir lips, nob an opinion upon any subject of which photographs have not been taken ou records made. Bwh paper seeks to outrto the other. The New York Journal and the S&n Francisco Examiner, in

their task to get the best of their rivals, entered into a contracb with Corbett aud Fitzsimmons, aEd their managers and the referee, that they should grant no interviews and give forth no statements save to their correspondents and through their columns, nor permit any photographs to be taken of them save by Journal and Examiner artists. Doubtless these papers paid highly for the3e precious privileges, but it does not require a man to have mere sense than to know when to come in out of the rain to perceive how valueless such privileges are. The fighters do talk with other newspaper men, and the other papers do publish statements from these great ones, and all the Examiner would appear to have gained by its copyrighted, signed statement business is the necessity of publishing telegrams, &c, from the principals swearing what the other fellows say is a " joke," and that they never did or said anything of the kind. It is really a very silly bit of work and the reverse of " smart." The rest of the press means to have news and get 3 it, whilst nob one person in a thousand, with all due reapecb to the Journal and Examinor, cares two straws whether Fitzsimmons gob up at 7 o'clock, punches his bag at 11 o'clock or did these things at half-past 7 nnd a quarter to 12. And there is not much difference between the authorised and the unauthorised statements. Nor does the public want from two to a dozen pielures a day of these men, and their cook', houses, and furniture. All it wants is a plain half column account of fanfc and not a deluge of the most fulsome twaddle decent people have been called upon to wade through. I have no strong feeling against a contest such as Fitzsimmons and Corbett will pass through. I feel tolerably certain there will be no brutality in it. lam c6nfidenb the outcry against it is the most hypocritical I have heard. I know that in New York, where Nevada's action in legalising bcxing contests is hysterically condemned, limited round contests of tho most savage nature are logal and held under the auspices of police commissioners ; and I further know Nevada is as law-abiding and moral as any Sbate iv the Union. Therefore, I do not indulge in cries of "Shocking," "D'tpraved," "Demoralising," and tho like, bub I do feel disgusted ab the prominence given to the men and the affair.

The fight will take place on the ' 17fch day of March in an amphitheatre specially builb for the occasion, with seating accommodation for over 15,000 people. The prices for seats will range from £8 per seat down, and it ia anticipated there will be a full house. Special trains will run from all parts of the country at special rates, and wires from the ring will connect with every great daily the country over. Fitz?immons, by the way, is referred to variously as the Cornishmau, tha Australian, the New Zealander, but rarely, if at all, as the wbat he now is— viz., an American. Should he win, New Zealand, if it knows it's duby and desires to ba strictly up to dale, will proclaim a public holiday and hold high revelry. If Corbetb wino we shall do that her?, and more. [The cable has informed us that Filzsimmons won.] '

THE "NEW" JOURNALISM is nothing if it is nob boastful, and no one can truthfulty say it fails of its high prerogative. The " old " journalism sayg some very unkind things of the " new " journalism, and backs its charges up with some very estimable pulpit opinions and magazine. articles. The "new" journalism retorts that the " old " journalism is behind the age, out of date, and slow ; and the " old " journalism^ whilst denying these charges, answers: Better these than being "new" if "new" be * synonym for "false." And, carbainly, r the "new" journalism, as embodied in the New York World, New York Journal, and San Francisco Examiner, is not only false, bub horribly nasty. Th<? "fakes " of thes9 papers are laughable ; everything seems to be put on one side for the mere purpose of having a sensation. The wit and brains of the staff are apparently devoted to this aim, and articles that would damn beyond recovery any decent British piper are printed without remorse or shame. Fancy any sano paper coming out in headlines an inch thick wibll " Foul Conspiracy of Cleveland and Oluey to Crush Cuba !" followed with a long screed in small type of surmise and guessing. Then there are scandals, mostly take, of absolutely no concern or interest to the general public, and the printing of which, with pictures and illus' rations, can only cau?o pain and misery to the innocent participants in such matters: lam sure 90 per centr bf the papers' subscribers do nob want these horrible details, but they are powerless. They can only accept what the managers provide. Protest and condemnation are alike useless. We must take our little bits of authentic news from out the sewer in which it swims, and be thankful we get what we do.

Perhaps no clearer idea can be given of this pandering to the unhealthy, immoral, and nasty by cur " new " journalism, than a list of the articles, tsken at random, from a Sunday Examiner, and covering, I think, 12 pages in addition to 20 pages of semi-legibimate newi and "ads." The most prominent article, duly advertised a week beforehand, and accompanied with many illustrations, was entitled " Corbett's New Body Blows " ; then cime a sheet and five pictures devoted to " Millie Lyon's Death was Speedily Avenged " ; next an article "Why I Hate the World," followed by one " Why I Love the World" ; a half shee! 1 , written by a woman, "A visit to Ollie Rourke, the Maniac Bride " ; full details about " Mrs Carew, who Poisoned Her Husbind," and a picture of a bottle labelled " Poison," with the woman's face beneath ; another half-sheet on "A Boy who Reads and Writes Upside Down " — illustrated of course ; "Talmage on Wicked Women" cams nexb: " The Electric Ballet and its Pretty Girls " had a half-sheet to itself ; " How Senators Acb in Congress During Prayer-time" is, obviously, an eminently appropriate article fora Sunday paper, and one to which " A San Francisco Woman who Sold Her Babe for Five Dollars " acts as a fitting contrast. "Pearl Price, the Circus Girl Who Tried to Kill Herself" (illustrated) wa3 set over against the music and words of a ditty entitled "Don't tell her that you love her," and both were followed by another singularly apropos subject — " ANew Bible by an Unknown Wriber." Then came an in3balmenb of Fergus Hume's shocker, " The Clock Struck One " ; an article, adapted to meet the wants of the poor, entitled "A Nickel for a Hob Lunch"; one on "Tha New Leper Colony"; another, "An Artist and His Serpent' Pets " ; then one about " Catching Diphtheria from Cats" ; and last, " How to Live 200 Years."

It will, I think, be admitted there is barely one of the above that could nob be well spared, whilst the large majority are absolutely pernicious and disgusting. Nor is the issue from which I have taken these headings an exceptional one. To-day's contains articles upon female burglars, Mrs Corbett' s opinions on her husband's chance 3in the coming fight, " Has Richard Ashe (i.c , Butler) a Soul ?" and heaps of other similar stuff.

It is superficial to say : Do nob subscribe to such papers, as these papers, though sensational, nasty, andjutterlyunreliablein many cases, ate no worse, especially as to reliability, than

their contemporaries, whilst they possess tha advantage of securing tho cleverest writers and artists to supply their material. Thn ordinary newspaper reader in this couutry deducts from 50 to 75 per cenb. from each aud every statement made in the press. By this plan he canget somewhere near the actual facts, and wait for their confirmation from other and later sources; but when the prets firsb at setts the Emperor of China has interfered with affairs in Chinatown, or that Cleveland has entered into a deliberato conspiracy with Spain to crush Cuba, or that an American nas been foully murdered by Spanish officials, no one ever believes the assertions nor thinks the worse of the editor and manager for working up such yarns ; where, however, we do protest is where murder, adultery, and scandal, are made the prominent features of our daily papers, and dealt upon with a detail of pen and pencil disgusting to look at, and for this phase of up-to-date journalism the go-called " new " men are infinitely woree than the " old," and ought to be dropped in the bay without compunction. MAHRIAGE AND DIVORCE. Some interesting figures have recently been published in San Francisco as to the relations of tho above, and there is nob much in them to swell us with pride or cause us to burst forth in pra\ns of congratulation. Briefly the figures show that marriage as an institution is on the down grade, whilst its twin brother, or sister-divorce—-is progressing merrily in an upward di:ection. Hero are the facts :

With such a ahowing ifc would seem that home training and home lite are a little superior to life in hotels and boarding houses ; that a just appreciation of the beauty and sanojity of wedded life has much in its favour; that a community which pajs little heed to home, love in its highest fense, and more to its dollars than its morals, has not in it the seeds of permanence or contentment. s NOTES AND COMMENTS. ' There are 20,000 children in San Francisco of school age, but not attending school. A member of the Missouri Legislature has introduced a bill having for its object a penalty of five years' imprisonment upon all men who are falsa to their marriage vows ! The same mender of morals wishes to inflict a fiae of 25d0l upon *ny conductor on a public conveyance who flirts with a female passenger. Oh, dear! In the State of Kansas, I am told, there is a law by which any young woman can, if sha wishes, sue a man. for breach of promise of marriage if he has at any time acted as her escort to the theatre or elsewhere. No wondec people leave Kansas. It is stated that Secretary Olney will become proiessor ef international law at Harvard upon his retirement from pohfea. Evangelist Moody was 60 years old on the sth of February. The evertt was celebrated by the gift of 30.000J0l from-admhers in Great Britain and this country. The cost ba the State of California for its poor and helpless children is between 500,000d0l and 600,000d01. - The total vote cast at the last Presidential election was 13,924,653 or 1,813,124 more than the total vote in 1892. M'Kinley received 7,109,480 and Bryan 6,508,681 votes. The King of Greece sent' a cable message direct from bis own hand to the San Francisco Examiner and New York Journal. There was nob much in the message, bui ib illustrates where and how the preßS gets in its work now-a-days. Sunday concerts, or festival services as they nre termed, in the churches, are now necessary to attract crowds. Some do even better foi* one church had its auditorium darkened whilst five wise virgins—i c., five young ladies with their hair down their backs and robed in their nightdresses—-crossed tho platform, followed by five foolish virgins, similarly atbired, singing (' Too late, boo late." ( The Torrens Acb will probably become a law in this SUte before the Legislature adjourns. The press approves it, and it has already passed the Senate Chamber. Public subscriptions are bsing solicited for the unemployed of this city. There are at least 1000 families homeless, moneyless, and hungry. Bub we mean to ship 4000 tons of flour to India's starving thousands. A millionaire who three years ago murdered his wife and child^was hanged in St. Louis the other day. Such a palpable miscarriage of justice could nob have happened in California. The Supreme Court of California has decided that youug Durrant —a monstrosity bafore whom Butler pales into insignificance —must hang;- Ib has taken within a week or two oi two years to reach this decision, and the end is not yet. Apropos of the Durranb delay, the Examiner editorially says: —" This is a showing that accounts for the discredit in which the laws against murder are held, and is an illustration of the system that has made the United States the bloodiest country out3ide of Turkey in a year of Armenian massacre?, and the barbarous tribes of Central Africa." And yet Cleveland, when giving his reasons for vetoing tho Immigration Bill prated aboub " the blessings of American citizanship." Under the heading«f " Te Deum Laudamus " the Democratic Examiner refers thnsly to the exit of Cleveland and Co.: " The times are still hard, the warcloud hangs black over Europe, anarchy reigns in Cub*, and mo« mentous political anfi. social problems confront this Republic; bub nevertheless on this auspicious day the sky is blue, the birds sing, and joy is unconfined. It is the last day of the Cleveland Administration."

The amount deposited in the Post Offiea Savings Bank for the quarter ending March w»8 £822,397, against £732,934 for the same quarter last year. The withdrawals amounted to £738,871, against £671,213.

At the annual meetiDg of the Shorthand Writers' Association the report and balance sheet were adopted, and the following officebearers were re-elected for the ensuing session : — President, Mr M. Cohen ; vice-presidents, the Rev. R. Waddell and Mr H. F. Bastings ; secretary, Hhs Statham ; treasurer, Mr E. O. Huie ; committee— Miss Whinam, Miss Permin, Mr C. D. Smith, and Mr T. Hilliker. It was decided to open the speed practice classes on the 4th of May.

Advice to Mothers !— Are you broken m your rest by a sick child suffering with the pain of cutting teeth ? Go at once to a chemist and get a bottle of Mm Winslow's Soothing Syrup. It will relieve the poor sufferer immediately. It is perfectly harmless, and pleasant to the taste; it produces natural quiet sleep by relieving the cnua from pain, and the little cherub awakes as bright as a button." It soothes the child, it softens the gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates the bowels, and is the best known remedy for dysentery and diarrhoea whether arising from teething or other causes. Mrs Winslow 3 soothing Syrup is sold by medicine dealers evenr where at Is lid uer bottle.-[AI)VT.I

1800 IS9L 3802 1803 1894 18«5 189G M larnage 3421 3519 3503 3295 3239 3210 3138 BS. I Divorces. 635 70!) 639 643 «89 712 755