AMERICA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1903, 8 June 1892, Page 6

AMERICA.

From the Dunedin *Eoening Star's ' American Correspondent. Keokuk, lowa, April 22, CANADIAN ANNEXATIONISTS. The revelation made by the late census of the rapidly increasing emigration of the French from Quebec to the New England < States and of Ontario's young men to the Western States has awakened great interest and the discussion ia taking form. A new party is coming to the front who boldly proclaim annexation, and advocate political as well as commercial union with the United States. ' La Patrie,' a leading paper of Montreal, unfurls the banner of the new party in the following emphatic manner : — We believe tbat if this question was frankly submitted to the electorate the popular vote would show a very unexpected result. Should the false pretension that our religion, our language, and our nationality would incur more risk in the United States thai in the Canadian confederation be laid aside ; should the electors -who for the -most part know the United States from having lived in it or from having relatives in it be asked whether they would prefer^lmperial fedexat on, to which we are being diagged despite ourselves, or political union with the states, to which we are naturally gravitating ; should it be said to them " Will you be English or Americans— you have no other alternative? " the majority of the citizens who do not profit from our too numerous governments would respond from thoir hearts that they were Americans, and that they cared nothing for the insignificant title of Canadians of the Old CouDtry. Such is our opinion as regards the Province of Quebec, and M'Donald, who should know, declares that in thousands of cases the people of Ontaiio affirm that the only way to put an end to our chronic trouble ifa annexation to the United States. It is about time we should understand that Canada was intended to form an integral part of the American Continent, and not to be perpetually governed from Europe in the interest of Europeans. When we see English capitalists investing in the United States a hundred times more money than they do in Canada, why should we hesitate to give a little attention to our own interests in a matter of such importance ? John Bull cannot expect that we should be more loyal or more English than he is himself ; and he has always shown himself loyal to bin own interests ! We are anxious to Eec the result of the vote in Toronto, and we would not be surprised to .find a considerable number ia favor of annexation. The stand taken by this leading newspaper has caused considerable excitement in the Dominion. ; Mr E. A. M 'Donald, of Toronto, is a candidate for Parliament on a straight annexation ticket. In his address to the electors he recognises Canada's extremity, and declares that the only remedy for the desperate condition is political nnion, which he advocates on the following grounds :—: — 1. The assumption by the Union of all public debts —Dominion, provincial, and municipal. 2. The deepening and widening of the St. Lawrence, Welland, and other canals so as to admit any or all ocean vessels to all the principal lake ports, and the construction of the Lake Huron and Ontario ship canal with a like object 3. The admission and recognition of each province as a sovereign State of the Union. In closing a strong appeal for votes, he says further : — We have a country that is the grandest natural heritage on the face of the earth ; but it has been restricted and impoverished by a mistaken policy, by an attempt on the part of some to make Canada a part of Europe when it was intended to form a par', cf America. Annexation would mean a perpetual treaty of peace and free and unrestricted trade with 70,000,000 of our own people, in consequence of which tens of millions of dollars would flow Into our country, and the investor would have no cause to fear a change of trade relations that would destroy or confiscate his means, and our mineral resources would be developed on such a scale as would bring prosperity to the whole country. Mr M'Donald states his case vigorously. Of course he will not be elected on this issue in the present election ; but he is a pioneer, and as he is not a very old man he may live to Bee wonderful changes in the sentiment of his countrymen. The United Stateß will not need to foster this movement ; when the fruit is ripe it will fall to the ground without force of any sort. THE BEHBING FISHERY DISPUTE, i This year, after the Treaty of Arbitration was agreed to, and pending the ratification of the treaty by the American Senate, Lord { Salisbury, for some unexplained reason, refused for a time to renew the agreement of last year to prevent the destruction of the seals during the breeding season. That is is as though A and B should agree to have C decide for them who is the owner of a certain lot of cattle, and that immediately upon making the agreement, and before V could decide the question, B proceeds to kiil the cattle and hang them up in his own shed. Whereupon A gave notice that he will protect the cattle with all the force at his command, peaceably if possible, but forcibly if necessary. This is a question that is so wholly right that even the London 1 Times ' says : " The argument of last year must be renewed." And Lord Salisbury, like Davy Crocket's coon, has "come down the tree." His position in this matter was so manifestly wrong, that it is impossible to assume that a great and wise people, when they look at the matter calmly, would allow their Minister to maintain it. England and America would never go to war about a few seals. The following are the questions to be submitted to arbitration :— What exclusive jurisdiction in the sea known as the Behring Sea, and what exclusive rights in the seal fisheries therein, did Russia assert and exercise prior and up to the time of the cession of Alaska to the United States ? How far were these claims of jurisdiction as to the seal fisheries recognised and conceded by Great Britain' Was the body of water now known as the Behring Sea included in the phrase "Pacific Ocean," a3 used in the Treaty of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, and what rights, if any, in the Behring Sea were held acd exclusively exercised by Russia after said treaty ? Did not all the rights of Russia as to jurisdiction and as to the seal fisheries in Behring Sea east of the water boundary, in the treaty between the UDited States and Kussia of the 30th March, 1867, pass unimpaired to the United States under that treaty ° Has the United States any right, and, if so, what right, of protection or property in the fur seals frequenting the islands of the United States in Behring Sea when such seals are found outside of the ordinary three-mile limit? The Board will be composed of seven — two to be appointed by Great Britain, two by the United States, and one each by France, Italy, and Sweden, a majority of the Board, to decide each question, and the decision to be binding upon both countries. The main question at issue is embodied in the fifth article stated above. ANOTHER DISPUTE SETTLED. The murder of a few Italians by a mob in New Orleans s, few months ago caused a rupture of diplomatic relations with Italy. The Government of the United States have made an offer of L 5.000 to be divided among the families of those who were lynched and were subjects of Italy, accompanied with a declaration that this payment is not to be interpreted as, an acknowledgment of the responsibility of the United Scates for the failure of the municipal authorities of New Orleans to protect the lives of Italian citizens, but as an evidence of the goodwill of the United States, and her desire to make what reparation she can for the wrong inflicted at hew Orleans. This offer haß been promptly and cheerfully accepted by the Italian Government us satisfactory, and diplomatic relations will be restored at once on a basis as intimate,

oordial, and friendly as they were before the unfortunate occurrence which caused their rupture. ANARCHY IN WYOMING!. The big and little cattle ranoheros of Wyoming are at war with each other. This condition has been long brewing. It is a conflict of property hunger, where both the large and the small proprietors precipitatily took the law into their own hands and now see no eaey way to let go of it. The small owners have for a long time claimed that the large ranchmen, owning nearly all the stook ranges, with an army of cowboys as their agents, have at every Bpring rounded up and gathered all the cattle on the ranges, and have branded as their owa all the young unmarked cattle of small stockowners, as well as their own. This year the small stockholders organised to prevent that, and arranged for a roundup and stock-marking thirty days in advance of the time provided by law. This was claimed by the large owners as merely a subterfuge to steal from themselves all the unmarked cattle on the plains. They accordingly hastily organised to prevent the sequestration, and two or three of the small owners were shot. This fired the train. There were some fifty or a hundred of the armed ranchmen, and they have been confronted, by a thousand or more of armed cattle owners who vowed vengeance. The large owners, seeing the situation in which they had placed themselves, surrendered to General Van Horn, of the regular army. The other side, who are strongly armed, threaten to overpower the troops, to take the prisoners away, and to make short work of them. In any event they demand that certain ones shall be given up to be shot. The Governor and the United States authorities are trying to end the trouble without further bloodshed ; but it has become plain that, even if the armed trouble ends here, not one of the surrendered men will dare return to his property, because sooner or later the " rustlers," as the small owners are called, will waylay and kill them. The situation on the stock ranges is simply lawless. In a melee like this the lawless and thieves have the best chance. Many honest and peaceable men have been warned to leave their property and go. They will have to take the chance of losing their property or losing their iives. It is a bad situation, VERMONT JtJDGES AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. That every form of public policy about the liquor traffic is transitional, experimental, and temporary is illustrated by what is happening in Vermont. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont recently announced that he and his associates on the bench had decided to adopt a new system in regard to the punishment of offenders against the liquor laws. The State has had a prohibitory law for forty years, but it has not been generally enforced, and the main reason appears to be that the courts have been very lenient in the matter of penalties. As to the present Chief Justice, it is said that " his court has rarely advanced a liquorseller beyond the firßt offence in the schedule of crime. The fine has for forty years been imposed and paid, and the seller returned to his traffic to make up, by larger sales and greater adulteration of his liquors, the money paid to the State in fines." At the recent term of court in Rutland, the Chief Justice announced that he understood how the people feel about the liquor traffic, and how ior forty years the Legislature have been making the law more and more stringent, and adding heavier and heavier penalties. The judges realise that the only reason why people violate the law is money. So it has been decided to adopt, as a general practice, an increase of the ordinary penalties for selling. If increasing the money penalty will not stop the traffic, then imprisonment may be added. He therefore imposes a fine of L 2 for the first offence, and will double it for the second, and so ou. The other judges have done the same thing. Alarm and consternation among the rum sellers are the result. The most remarkable thing about the matter is that it should take these judges forty years to understand the will of the people. When the Legislature have been making the law more and more stringent, and increasing the penalties, the judges have been rendering the law nugatory by making the penalty so mild that the traffic has been fostered rather than prohibited. A I'LUCKY PREACUEK, Rev. Dr Parkhurst, of New York, has made a pulpit attack upon the city government, charging that it gave protection to the wicked instead of to the good ; to immorality instead of to virtue ; and to the criminal class instead of the law abiding. The retort was made that he was a preacher, and did not know what he was talking about. So he laid aside bis ministerial garb, dressed as a man of the town, went to the saloons, visited the bawdy houses and dancing saloons, made the rounds of the gambling hells, and did the town like a thorough-bred. The next time he went into his pulpit he had an experience to teJl that was not hearsay— "he had been there." On Monday he went before the Grand Jury with the evidense which he had collected, and Becured indictments against many places and persons. His brethren in the ministry are anything but unanimous in approving his methods. He, however, justifies his action by the challenge that had been thrown down to him and by the results that have followed. i A HINT TO FARMERS. According to a recent consular report Russia contains more than 700,000 acres i devoted to the culture of sunflowers, the fir3t effort to grow them for mercantile purposes dating back just fifty years. The chief product is the seed, the average yield of which has been about 1,3501 b to the acre, this selling ia Rusßia at about V 2 o per lb. The return to the farmer is estimated at 20dol per acre, or double that on ordinary produce, and the soil on which the sunflower is grown becomes very porous, being thereby better prepared for the rotation of other crops. The seed of some species of sunflowers is used for making oil, which has largely taken the place of the French table oil in consequence of superior color, flavor, and taste, and its low price. The seeds of another species are eaten somewhat as peanuts are eaten in this country. After the oil has been pressed out of the shells they are sold in cake-form as food for cattle, and the exports of this to Germany, Denmark, and Great Britain have recently amounted to nearly 100,000 pounds per year. The stalks are gathered in the fields, dried in piles, and used instead of firewood. They are preferred to pine, as they give a quick and hot fire. The product of stalks is a. ton to the acre. The ashes contain a high percentage of potassium, and are largely used as a fertiliser. The stalk often reaches a diameter of three inches and a height of eight feet, sometimes forming many heads, each of which may contain some 2,000 seeds. A soil that is deep as well as fertile is required for the successful cultivation of the sunflower. COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN ILLINOIS. • The compulsory education law of Illinois has not met expectation, and the Republicans of Illinois are moving for its unconditional repeal. I think now that that should be done. It is one of the blunders of a class of reformers who cannot wait for God's time. The intention was right and good : to hasten the process of transforming foreigners into Americans. The attempt to do this is merely to delay it. The grand children are all Americans. It is folly to make them by law renounce) their grandparents in doing so. Patriotism and filialißm

are both of Nature's providing, and go comrade with each other. To assume that patriotism oould be made of sterling atamp in the heart of the ohild, who is aßked as a condition of it to put evil in the heart of his grandparents, is a blunder. Nature does not work that way, and the law had better go Nature's way. The child will grow in its own way and out of the grandparents' way soon enough. CONGBESSIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE DOINGS, Both parties in Congress are watching each other closely. Every move is examined critically for what effect it may have on the coming elections. What will benefit the party is a first, that which will benefit the country a secondary consideration. The Democrats have recently given an illustration of the chronic wrong-headedness for which they are proverbial. The Republicans attempted to provide that only the actual proceedings of Congress should be published in the ' Congressional Record,' but the Democrats have a majority, and refused to yield, claiming the right to publish anything as a speech, whether made on the floor of Congress or not. So three or four Congressmen, under the pretence of making speeches, have had the whole of Henry George's book on • Protection and Freetrade ' printed in the 'Record.' To mark the absurdity of tha thing, some Republican Congressmen have filed books with the ' Record ' for printing, The Free Wool Bill has passed the Lower House by the party majority, and is now before the Senate. There is just a possibility that it will pass the latter body, in which case the President will undoubtedly approve it. The Free Silver Coinage Bill was, by a parliamentary trick, buried under the mass of prior legislation so deep that it will not be reached again this session. The regular Appropriation Bills are being cut down with a show of economy, for effect upon the elections — the deficiencies to be supplied after the elections are over. The mail contracts made by the PostmasterGeneral will not be disturbed this session. The severest cut of all is made in the Estimates under the item of the Navy, The majority will not authorise any more new vessels than are now on the stocks to be built. This is a mistake in which the country will not sustain them. The American people are getting tired of being at the tail end of other nations in the matter of force and defence. There is a marked reaction against or indifference to the agitation for woman suffrage. The lowa Legislature, which in ISB2 had a majority in both Houses for striking the word " male' from the suffrage qualification in the State Constitution, refused last session (by a vote of 54 to 27) to even let the women vote at school elections. The Massachusetts Legislature, which in 18S4 had a majority for woman suffrage, have just refused (by a vote of .two to one) to let the women vote at schow elections, In New York last year the Senate passed a Woman Suffrage Bill, but it was defeated in the Lower House. This year the Lower House passed the Woman Suffrage Bill, but the Senate defeated it. There are no very marked changes in the political situation. JSo new issues are developed as yet. The contest for nomination as President is narrowing down to Mr Harrison and Mr Cleveland. The spring elections have been gradually favorable to the Republicans. Rhode Island was fairly won by the Republicans, and a senator secured a result that was quite unexpected. In Louisiana the issue wa.3 made on lottery and anti-lottery, with three tickets in the field, and anti-lottery has won by a very large majority. This was also an agreeable surprise, and settles the question of the renewal of the charter. The lottery must go. The anti-lottery candidate for mayor of New Orleans was elected by 500 majority, so that the victory was most complete.