Financial Stringency and the Coming Crash
ANOTHER stringency has occurred in the money market of New York which threatened to cause considerable difficulty throughout the country, and the Secretary of the Treasury has again come to the rescue with the offer to redeem government bonds to the extent of $15,000,000. His offer was promptly accepted by financiers. This transaction, it is said, will put in circulation about $20,000,000 to move the crops of the country. Not many weeks ago a similar transaction was found necessary to avoid a financial panic. How long the Secretary of the Treasury will be able to use the money of the people to prevent financial disaster and keep trusts and speculators from going to the wall is not known; but that it can not go on forever is certain. That it can not go on for long is also certain. The people are beginning to realize that an end must come to the great speculations and over capitalizations, and they are beginning to lose confidence. This is what is making the stringency in the money market; and it will go on until the crash comes. Many are expecting it, and some are expecting it soon. It may be held in check for a time, like the winds of strife which the angels were commissioned to hold; but there will come a time when the restraining hand will be removed, and what the result of that act will be, only the Word of God can reveal. But it does reveal it. THE annual report of the commissioner of immigration has been made public. It shows that there arrived in the United States during the past year 647,073 immigrants. The total number of aliens refused a landing was 4,974. The report says: “The increase of alien immigration has been not quite one-third over that of 1901; but the comparative increase of diseased aliens for the same period has been more than two to one. The same races which exhibited the largest number of diseased persons last year maintain their pre-eminence in this respect for the year under consideration.” The commissioner asks for some legislation which will punish steamship companies for bringing diseased aliens to this country. This increase of disease is one of the characteristics of the times—one of the signs of the times. PROFESSOR PICKERING of Harvard claims to have obtained proof, during the moon’s eclipse, of his theory that the brightness of the moon is due to hoar frost rather than to reflections from rocks. REPORTS from Porto Rico state that the election registration there was a complete farce. The Federals were shut out in the majority of the precincts of the island, because by order of the executive council a majority of the opposition party had been placed on each board. Insular police guarded the polls, and no Federals were admitted. In order to remedy this, the supervisor of elections allowed another day for registration, and orders were issued to protect the rights of the Federals; but the orders were uniformly disregarded, and where the Federals attempted to exercise their rights, shooting affrays occurred. Many arrests have been made and thousands of charges and protests have been filed. FOR some years it has been possible to send crude outlines of pictures by telegraph; but an invention has now been perfected in New York by means of which a perfect reproduction of any photograph can be sent over the electric wire. The electrograph, as it is called, is a flash reproduction of half-tone photo engravings, preserving in the finished resultant picture every photographic detail. It is stated that these pictures can be sent over any wire over which words can be telegraphed. This will mark a great advance in newspaper illustrating, or in any work where a picture is required without delay. LA SOUFRIERE, the volcano on the island of St. Vincent, has been in eruption again. This last outbreak occurred on October 15 and 16, and it is said plunged the colony into deeper distress than that which previously existed. Growing crops were buried under several inches of hot sand, and the area covered by this volcanic dust is said to be much larger than hitherto affected. No deaths have been reported, but the destruction of the crops will result in great distress. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, on invitation of the coal miners and operators, has appointed a commission of six members to effect a settlement of the coal strike. As the operators and the representatives of the miners have agreed to abide by the decisions of this arbitration tribunal, it is expected that the strike will be settled within a few days, and that mining will be resumed in most of the great coal mines which have been idle so long. THE British forces operating in Somaliland, East Africa, against the Mad Mullah, have met with a reverse at the hands of the fanatics. Most of the British troops were natives. The British had a colonel, a captain, and 50 men killed, and about 100 wounded. The attacking Somalis also suffered heavy losses in men. English papers are urging the government to take severer measures in dealing with the Somalis. FROM the report of the London Board of Trade, it seems evident that the coming winter will be a hard one for the laboring class of England. The return of the discharged South African troops is causing a reduction in the wages of the laborers, and the number of unemployed persons is constantly increasing. To add to the difficulty of the situation, the price of meat, bread, and coal is dearer than a year ago. COLONEL ICHENETSKY, of the Russian army, has invented a new fireproof material, which is called Uralite. Asbestos constitutes the fundamental component of the new production, which has proved a perfect fire-resisting material. It is extremely light, durable, and very strong, and is manufactured in sheets of varying size and thickness, very convenient for building purposes. A correspondent of the London Daily Mail, who is investigating the condition of the Jews in Rumania, reports that in addition to the persecutions which the Jews have to bear, many of the Rumanian legislators derive considerable portions of their incomes from large sums exacted from the Jews on the promise that they will help the Jews to obtain naturalization papers. CONSUL-GENERAL BRAGG, of Havana, is to be replaced by the present consul-general at Hongkong, China, Mr. W. A. Rublee. The Havana consul-general will take the place left vacant by the one who is to replace him. This change of officials is made necessary by Cuba’s dislike of Mr. Bragg, due to certain unguarded utterances of his in reference to the Cubans. A NEW Colombian official has taken up the work of pacifying the Isthmus of Panama. He states that he will soon have an army of considerable size at his disposal, and will at once begin to clear the railroad and isthmus of guerrilla bands. Colombia is fearful that the disturbances in the vicinity of the proposed canal may result in America choosing the Nicaragua route. THE International Court of Arbitration has rendered its decision in the Pius Fund case, awarding to the United States on behalf of the Catholic Church of California the sum of $1,460,682, and also annual payment of interest forever amounting to $43,050. The Mexican Government will pay the award, altho the government feels that it is entirely unjust. THE United States now produces more coal than any other nation in the world, the output for the year 1901 exceeding that of Great Britain by 47,965,938 short tons. The world’s output of coal for that year was 866,165,140 tons, and of this the United States produced nearly 34 per cent. THE birthplace of John G. Whittier, at Haverhill, Mass., was nearly destroyed by fire on October 17. The Whittier Association will rebuild the house. A Good Work.—In 1900 only five States had laws that amounted to anything for the protection of nongame birds, namely Indiana, Vermont, Rhode Island, Illinois, and Arkansas. Now, through the efforts of the Audubon societies, eleven States have laws against the killing of birds for millinery purposes. Let the good work go on till every State shall possess effective laws and public sentiment to enforce them. THE great beef trust has at last been incorporated, under the laws of New Jersey. The capital stock has been placed at $1,000,000; but it is understood that this is soon to be increased to $500,000,000. The company is authorized to deal in cattle, act as butchers, packers, and retailers, and to construct and operate steamship lines. ON October 16, United States Attorney Woodworth, of San Francisco, secured a temporary restraining order from the judge of the Circuit Court, restraining the salt trust from carrying on business, and ordering officials to appear in court on November 3 to show cause why the restraint should not be made permanent. THE report of the Commissioner of Education to the government for the past year shows that during that time the number of individuals receiving instruction in the various schools of the country was 17,750,000, and the value of property used for school purposes has risen to $576,963,089. AT Visalia, California, on October 18, a person was thrown into a hypnotic sleep by a hypnotist who was twenty miles away. The operation was carried on by means of the telephone, and was performed in the presence of a number of persons who had assembled to witness the test. THE Illinois State Federation of Labor has passed resolutions denouncing the State militia. It was resolved that all members of unions who join the militia violate their obligations to the unions, and it was ordered that henceforth all union men should decline to join the militia. THE General Confederation of Labor for France is now considering the proposition of a general strike in all the industries of that country for an eight-hour day and old-age pensions. The strike of French miners continues. The report states that there are now 160,000 miners out. IT is reported that throughout the East the price of coal will be generally increased fifty cents a ton, because of the probable increase which will be made in the price paid the miners as a result of the prospective agreement between the miners and operators. SECRETARY of the Treasury Shaw, in his forthcoming annual report to the government, recommends that the Bertillon method of measuring criminals be adopted by the government in the detection of the identity of the Chinese who come to America. THE Boer generals who are making a tour of Europe to raise funds for the Boers impoverished by the long war are said to be meeting with scant encouragement financially in those countries. They will soon visit America to raise funds for that object. THERE was a stormy scene in the British Parliament on October 16, when the Irish members denounced the government in unmeasured terms for its refusal to appoint one day between that date and Christmas for the discussion of the Irish troubles. A DESPATCH from Lisbon, Portugal, states that the king of Portugal has leased Portuguese Southeast Africa to Great Britain for a period of 99 years. The Portuguese flag will continue to fly over the territory, but it will be for the sake of appearances only. JAMES YOUNGER, the paroled bandit, who, with his brothers, made part of the Jesse James gang of outlaws, committed suicide at St. Paul, Minnesota, on October 19. He was the youngest of the three brother bandits. THE corn market of Chicago is reported to be in the absolute control of J. Ogden Armour, who is holding something like 30,000,000 bushels of December corn, and has within a few days cleared between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000. IT is reported that the Haitian insurgents have given up the fight, and that their leader has sailed away from the island with a few of his followers. Marines are guarding the consulates, which are thronged with refugees. WALL STREET statisticians have figured it out that the American farmer will receive for this year’s crop of corn, wheat, and oats $1,795,000,000, besides the amount received from hay, potatoes, and other products. THAT little Denmark is not to be left behind in the race for war preparations is shown by her latest order for war munitions, which included 128 Krupp field guns and 192 ammunition wagons. THE frontier dispute between Algeria and Morocco has been settled. France obtains the territory which was in dispute between her African possession and Morocco. REPORTS from Colombia state that that country now has a new president, General Perdomo, former minister of state and commander of the Colombian army.