OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2275, 7 October 1897, Page 20

OUR AMERICAN LETTER.

(From Oub.Own Correspondent ) **San Francisco, August 19. THE POLITICAL WORLD

after its gceab creative act, known to future ages as the Dingley Tariff .Bill? d ; sparßed with more cickling and "clucking bhan * barnyard of -fowls. In other words, Congress, assembled in March last in extraordinary session, has adjourned. Of its' work it would ba foolish to speak. It did no work. 16 merely talked about Cuba and Greece and other home subjects whilst a few men, in secret committee, were conspiring against the welfare of the indolent and helpless millions — thab is to say, making preparations for the bursting forth of the great; creation above-mentioned.

Bat; if Congress, following in the foofcstep3 of previous Congresses, did next to nothing — for plundering the public is really nothiug, at least nothing new, — Secretary of State Sherman helped lo enliven the gloom of our hearts aud elate the ooul of every newspaper editor! the country over by giving birth to some delightful gossip anenfc our Eaglisk cousins. Ifirst came what our editors now call his " chirtsleoves letter-" upon England's action," or noh-action, 4 in Behring Sea, to which I referred in " my last. Satisfied with- the roar of applause following upon his spirited foreign "policy and the exultant cries with which bis twisting of tin lion's tail was greeted, our Secretary with, a backbone granted' an interview to our special reporter, and to him;spoke thnsly :—: —

England is a, great country, but it.is not alway* sife to assunid that she ia ready to follow up every quarrel with blows. She quarre's oftener than she fights. It would be exceedingly difficult for her to tight us all alone -about seal catching. Russia and Japan are in a similar position, and any quarrel between the United Stated and JSngland on this score would probably involve these other countries. • ' Of course thin was promptly cabled to England, and the newspapers there — at least some of them— talked back. Now, it his always appeared to me as rather • funny that whe i the St. James's Gszette, or Pall Mall, or West- 1 minster, or Spectator write a jiogo article' the press in the United States, without exception, heads its copies of these atticles with such words as " The British Lion Roars," " England is Angry," and the liks. What Eigland or the British lion have to do with the utterances of a newspaper— no matter how highly respectable — puzzles ma. -I know England is an awfully bad place — no freedom, no greatness, no anything ; but I never knew until I came" here that- England was an article in a newspaper. However, to. proceed. -The British lion, through the medium of the London Spectator, roared in reply as follows :—: —

We are obliged to write .as we never dreamed of being forcsd to write aboilt a country only less dear to us than our own. But we shoul't fail in our public duty if we did not point out in the strongest manner the grava risks which are likely to ensua from thi< attitude. Uuless the United States assuni93 a very different tone the gravest crisis U certain to en ue,

Public opinion in England has greatly changed during the last few mouths, and even if Lord Salisbury ia anxious to politely ignore such indiscreti >ns as Secretary Sherman's tha people would not permit it. Hereafter American demauds, if urged in unfriendly language, will be re-i.sted unanimously by tbe natiou, no matter what the risks may be. If America does not keep a better watch over her politicians they will hurry her.. into a- conflict 'with, this country whereof no one is syble to ace the end.

[ England having spoken, an expectant world ! await 3 Uncle Sam's reply. But in order to keep the audience merry, pending America's reply to England, Professor Elliott, late of the Smithsonian Institute, has emitted a roar before which even our "shirtsleeves" Secretary quails. • It seems, in the opinion of the professor — the word is .sobesmired in the States * that I am surprised ' any decent man uses it— • that Mr Foster, who represents ths States in Eugland on tbe seal question and whose efforts have brought about another eoaferane«, is a bad, wicked man. He in a plagiarist, having stolen Professor Elliott's brains ; he is an ignoramus — oh 1 dear ;— inexperienced— naturally ; — and a parrot — how pretty, Yofi Fester being all this, the idea of the United States, in our professor's words : " Taking this commonplace man up now, after this record oC fl»t failure is stamped all over his anatomy, and putting him in charge of your sealing question will only thrust you deeper into the mire lhAn he and your predecessors have been placed before the bright men over the line at Ottawa." Then the St. James's Gazette cries aloud : The Americans will'consider another conference a climb down for the British, and not unnaturally, Mr Sherman's despatch will be regarded as the direct cause. The United States make quits an unwarrantable demand. We ignore it. The American State department sends » menacing and insulting despatch. We promptly yield." It is the Venezuelan business and the Cleveland message ouce aijain. And ouce again" it will ponfirro. the American political mind in the conviction'that John Bull always knuckles down when bullied and threatened. Our statesmen are preparing future disasters for both countries by- carslessly encouraging this dangerous delusion. , And meantime th : s embarrassing anfinxl splashes unconcernedly about the waters 1 of. the Behring, anxious only, as he- gazes fondly upon the females efhis seraglio, whether there will be enough of them to provide all the aeal•kin sacques that will be called for by the wives of our adventurous miners of the Klondyke in the near future. Bat nobody, let the papers say what they miy, is going to get up a fight about him. THE COAL MINERS' STKIKE has not at this hour arrived any nearer success. Some 100,000 men are idle and desperate, aud the owners seem likely to win in the end. There can be no question as to the justice of the strikers' contention, but justice will cut very little figure if the owners are determined not to yield, but fight the men to the last ditch of hunger and despair. Eighteen hhillings per week for labour of the hardest and most trying nature is simply abominable. No human being can live on it — unless he is unmarried — iv this country. Nor do the men receive coin at the end of their vrorlr. The operators own the houses and their men must live in them, they likewise own the stores and the men must purchase there, with the result that, in place of cash on pay day, the unfortunate worker often finds himself the possessor of a few cents only wherewith to purchase those things he may w.*ut elsewere. This system o£ " company store* " has long since been abolished in xnon&rchioal England, but then it should be remembered, England is not supposed to be a "free" country, ""As for the houses the men with their families are com pel ltd to live in they are not houies at all; They a-e worse than pig si yen. - A' lady reporter was senfc down to the raining district around Pittsburgh by a .New York paper,' and she says of thPse so-called houses :—: — I. The most of them are horrible styes— unfit for a decent p'jt to live in. They are for the hiost part bjiilt in barrack style, so that ho man may have a raof to himself for his family, bat must burrow with a hundred other;, like maggots in a rotting cheese. ' * ' '> These are not nice words, nor are they pretty similes. There are no others that will serve. The miners are many of them foreigners — Germans, Sweden, Italians^ Huns, and Poles.-The Germans, the Swedes, 'and the Italians are ' intelligent, decent-living men. The Huns and Poles HveMike horrible beasts. I went to the Germania mine,* and there I feund coloured people paying 610 l a month for miserable hovels that would scarcely keep the wind out. Twelve families- lived in a row of the^e hovels, and they all drank , stagnant water, which they had to carry about one-eighth of a mile. • - . ""- k „1 went over to Banning. Banning lies in a cut in the hills above a shallow. stream. Tbe houses there were pigstyes set on piles above a running sewer. " ' v Some of the houses had beds set under them by the side of the sewer. , There were eight or 10 people living in one fetid room. I have seen the worst of the Chine-e quarters - in Sin Francisco, I have stood in the dens ia Mulberry Bead, but for horrible filth and nameless iniquity I never saw the equal of the?e ityes at Banning. These are the mines in which President M'Kiuley hasi aa interest. The same horrible condition of the miners' lives was presented to the great, selfish, uninterested publjc in the manifesto published by the Labour leaders. They said : The deplorable condition of the miners is well krlowa to all our people. They live in " t ovels, unable to buy sufficient. bread to ward.pff starvation, and in' many cages Dot sufficiently clothed to cover their nakedness. Their ch ild re u are unfit to attend ichool because of a Uclc -of ,food and clothing, making them a daDger to the future ," stability of theltepubltc. ' " But the operatara are far from idle. Whehife became known that Eugene V. Debs was, to addreFS 'm«s meetings' of the miners in Western ,. Virginia, wfth the object of inducing them to join their striking 'brethren in' Pennsylvania and so paralyse the, coal eupply,: the operators applied to' the couvt's and -Judge Jackson issued an injunction against Debs and ths Labour leaders. This injunction forbids the leaders from " interfering with or molesting the management of 'the property of •■ the Monoogah Coke and Coal Company, or its employees, either by trespassing upon the property of the company or the approaches thereto, or in any way inciting its employees to strike, or interfering in any manner whatever, either by words or deed, in the company's affairs." Of | the sweeping nature of such an injunction, invading »s it doe? every private, right granted the individual by the Constitution, it is difficult to speak in mild terms. The whole business of frte men, free speech, and fres country gets its quietus ia a manner the most; ardent and patriotic ehouter can h ardly shuffle away from. Of course an appeal will be token to the Supreme Court, .but. cvi bono ? Before the question U adjudioated upon the strikers. will be starved into submission. Nor is this all. The State courts of Western Virginia have issued another injunction, at the request of the owners, which forbids the United Sliueworken of America from " assembling, marching, or camping " near the mines or the houses of the miners, and restraining them from either *i mii ducing or compelling " any miner to quit work. In accordauci with these injunctions the sheriff and his depntiea have arrested miners for walk-

Beat the big drum and. shout hurrah ! A discovery— the very best thing this side ofrthe line — licks everything of the kind into a cocked hat. No more sleepless nights ! A boon to parents ; an everlasting blessing. What ¥ Why, Woods's Great Peppermint Cubjb for coughs aud cold*, of .course. Sold by all grocer* and chemists at' ls 6d and' 2s 6d ; the large Biz* a the cheaper in the long iuo. ' ' ' : ■

ing along the road, and have imprisoned or I /threatened to imprison any who may address the miners who have not struck. And to such a pass has this much-vaunted freedom of ours been brought 1 It requires little imagination to Bee that under such' a° policy a despotism may h6 created more galling than thut which when attempted led a kins to the scaffold. THE NEW TARIFF is now the law of the land, and in a few' months we shall begin to feel tbe full effects and appreciate the s great benefits of this most beneficent measure. A rise in the cost of the necessities of life will be among the earliest of its advantages and a corresponding rite in/the wages" of the toilers among its <very**la»t. Beyond the benefit of knowing " whore we are at " there is nothing in the DinglejLßill to call forth congratulations or satisfaction. It is more than questionable whether it will raise the revenue it is expected to, but it is fairly certain it will pour some millions a year into the coffers of those great trusts' that, admittedly, govern this country with a rod of iron. The sugar trust, it is eat mated, will receive some 10,000, 000J0l yearly through its operation, and the coal mine owners are rewarded to the extent of an additional 27c a ton. This last t»x can only be regarded in the light of a payment for favours received during the last Pi evidential campaign, as it is nothing ,le«s than scandalous that, at thievery hour, 100,000 men are enduring, with these dependent upon them, all the horrors of a strike brought on because they askei for 5c a ton extr^ for mining this . self •ainehighly protected necessity Of daily life. - " However, everybody -"connected with* this ■-■wonderful bill for : dispelling depression was hujjely delighted when the President attached his signature .thereto. There waf quite a festive s.ce'ne when the deed was done. All that was .wanting was the" presence of sbnie of our more notable tru-tt kings. Perhaps, though, it was deemed advisable not to have tbe chief wire-pullers present at the final scene. Bub Mr Dingley was there, and, when the auspicious moment, arrived, he, to quote the telegrams :« " Unexpectedly taking a case from his pocket'j produced a pen with a beautiful mdtherof;pearl/liandle, dainty enough for a lady's usej and requested tha*; it'ibe used for the *ign»ture. The President recognised- the right of Mr Dingley, though he laughingly- commented on the diminutive size of the pen." Truly history repeats itself..* Someone elsV went into a war, not so veryjqrfg, ago, •• with alight heart," and landed hitpsrlf and his poor country in' the most awful,' smash-Up of 'modern times. The Duig'ey.Bill in its effects will nob* be so dramatic,; but 1 tbTere are thousands who will live to— well, not bless the day' it passed into law. ' .' -^ FRBBDok; OF THOUGHT, ( ' f I suppot e, ' . belongs" to all of up, out the ' freedom to , express that thought, if nob immoral, does not appear to exist anywhere in the United States. I know this is sot the popular and outside belief, but it i« hardly the -.less true. The' -right to injure a man in his means of, ,g«ioiDg a living, should . his politics not agree', with those of his superiors or enemies, is almost an article of our .political faith — one; in fact, held as eacredly. as the belief that in the United States alone a man may «peak the thing ha will and none dare say him nay. I .could give many illustration*-, where the powers tbab be have' made it *•• hot " for tb,o«e who have' had the audacity to epeak for themselves, but one -case will suffice. -It ■has attracted "world-wide attention and caused no end of comment. Prof«ssor Andrews, president of Brown University, was recently dismissed from bis position because headvocated the free coins ge of silver. *It seems' bis opinions clashed" with those of the trustees and the chief financial supporters of the institution, and the out-come was his discharge. Compelled to make- some kind of apology for this procedure the trustees stated that unless Mr Andrews ceased publicly to express his views the university " would in the future fail to receive the pecuniary support' which is requisite to enable it to prosecute with success the grand work in which it has entered." This is plain enough, although "on% N trustee put it even plainer. Hes»id, the action " was taken simply because they found the. supplies cut off. The fountain which nourished the institution was, drying up. It was their duty to find out the cause and apply the remedy." All of which mean* that -any question which may at any time affect the material* interest of tbo»e who endow scientific institutions must nob be discussed by their professors iv an antagonistic spirit. ' The London Spectator, iv its comments upon' this extraordinary phase of public spirit, says :— " Capitalists have subsidised the pulpits, r bought up the pres«, seated well-paid attorneys the Senate ; and, fiually, have stretched their hands oat to the colleges, which it is an easy "thing to capture by such generosity as Mr Rock- - feUer's. ■ Apparently it is their intention to convert the United States into a powerful oligarchy, and they will extend the sway of that oligarchy to other lands when they can." And the same is approvingly- quoted by some papers here-^-the" which, to »ay the least, is deserving of credit. < • , ',' ' NOTES AND COMMENTS. la : 10 days in the^Cityof New York eight cases of starvation were reported. Two of these persons, too proud to beg, died of hunger, and .'the others 'were taken to the hospitafs. * .' In a'suburb o*f Webster City, in the State of lowa,' bats took possession of a house. A fight for life ensued. Sixty-three of the bats were killed before the balance took flight. The inmates were badly scratched and nearly blinded. " The gold reserve in the Treasury on August 13 amounted to 141,"200,244. . - ; .. , The assassination of Canovas called forth many'.xetplutions of Approval in certain quarters'sin tbis country, and if the reports of- the late Premier's treatment of alleged Anarchists in Spanish prisons be tme, it is rather difficult to withhold a certain measure of sympathy. The " prica of silver in a standard silver d6llar of tbe United States at latest quotations is 42 62 cents. New school books have been ordered for the nse of our public schools in this c.ity. The parents are inaignant, as the cost is far beyond the means of many, and the department will have to purchase — *s by law it is bound to do — some 10,000dol worth for those who cannot buy them. _ Collusion and jobbery are, as usual, freely charged.