AMERICA.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 6, 5 August 1908, Page 8

AMERICA.

Abe Ruef, who is to undergo trial in connection with the ‘ graft” charges, has been liberated on bail totalling £300,000. The programme of the Government of Argentina includes the expenditure of £10,000,000 on the construction of two Dreadnoughts and the renewal of field artillery. A Brutal Convict System. The Legislative Investigation Committee, sitting in Alabama, elicited remarkable evidence respecting the State convict leasing systems practised by the Southern States. It was shown that on one State prison farm the convicts were lined up and sold like mules to the highest bidder. One convict was leased out in exchange for seven negroes because he possessed clerical ability. A white boy who was leased was whipped to death for spilling coffee on a hog. Railway Companies on Strike. The Canadian-Pacific, Great Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, the Oregon short line, and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroads, have notified shippers thst they will abandon the export trade to China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia, from November 1, and practically abandon the import trade. This is in reply to the Inter-State Commerce Commissioner’s rule requiring railroads to publish the inland proportion of their import and export rates. It is predicted that the steamship line involved will be sold. Japan in the Pacific Trade. The Chicago Chamber of Commerce declares that the Japanese will soon completely absorb the Trans-Pacific carrying trade unless American railways are allowed to grant a rebate on commerce destined for the Orient. The Canadian-Pacific, Great Northern Pacific, Union pacific, Sou/flcrn Pacific, the Oregon short line, an/, the Atchison, Topeka, and Lanta Fe Railroads, notified shippers that they would abandon the export trade to China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia, from November 1, and practically abandon the import trade. This was in reply to the InterState Commerce Commissioner’s rule requiring railroads to publish the inland proportion of their import and export Sates. It was predicted that the steamship line involved will Im sold.